Final answer:
The percent yield of CO₂ is calculated by dividing the actual yield (8.9 g) by the theoretical yield derived from the molar masses of carbon and CO₂ and then multiplying by 100.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks for the percent yield of a chemical reaction where 7.3 g of carbon reacts with excess oxygen to produce 8.9 g of carbon dioxide (CO₂).
The percent yield can be calculated by comparing the actual yield to the theoretical yield. To find the theoretical yield, we use stoichiometry based on the balanced chemical equation.
Assuming the reaction goes to completion and all the carbon turns into CO₂, we would calculate the theoretical yield of CO₂ using the molar mass of carbon and the molar mass of CO₂ (12 g/mol for Carbon, and 44 g/mol for CO₂).
Therefore, the theoretical yield (in grams) would be the mass of carbon used multiplied by the ratio of the molar mass of CO₂ to the molar mass of carbon (44/12).
The percent yield is then found by dividing the actual yield (8.9 g) by the theoretical yield and multiplying by 100.