Question

The average ghost pepper contains 1.41x10-5 moles of capsaicin (C18H27NO3). How many mole of oxygen are contained in this amount capsaicin?

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Answer 1

The average ghost pepper contains
`1.41 X 10^-5` moles of capsaicin, and since each molecule of capsaicin includes 3 oxygen atoms, this amounts to
`4.23 X10^-5`moles of oxygen.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the number of moles of oxygen in a given amount of capsaicin, we must use the chemical formula
`C_18H_27NO_3.` Capsaicin contains oxygen atoms in the phenol, ether, amide, and alkene functional groups. Given an average ghost pepper contains
`1.41 X 10^-5` moles of capsaicin, and knowing that one molecule of capsaicin contains 3 atoms of oxygen, we can calculate the moles of oxygen. Simply multiply the moles of capsaicin by the number of oxygen atoms per molecule:

Moles of oxygen = Moles of capsaicin x Oxygen atoms per molecule of capsaicin

Moles of oxygen =
`1.41 X 10^-5` moles x 3 =
`4.23 X10^-5`moles of oxygen.