Question

1. In 1996 a meteor crashed into the Earth near Steelsville, Ontario. The resulting meteorite was found to contain 5,790 g of Molybdenum Chloride having a formula of Mo2Cl9. How many molecules of Mo2Cl9 are present in the 5,790 g meteor?

Answer 1

6.38×10²¹ molecules

Step-by-step explanation:

Formula for molybdenum chloride is:

Mo₂Cl₁₀

Molar mass is : (Molar mass for Mo) . 2 + (Molar mass for Cl) . 10

95.94 . 2 + 35.45 . 10 = 546.38 g/mol

We determine moles that are contained in 5.790 g of Mo₂Cl₁₀

5.790 g . 1 mol /546.38 g = 0.0106 moles

We count the molecules: 0.0106 mol . 6.02×10²³ molecules / mol =

6.38×10²¹ molecules

Remember that 6.02×10²³ is also called Avogadro's number (NA) which is the number of particles of anything, that are contained in 1 mol.