Question

If 28 mL of 6.2 M H2SO4 was spilled, what is the minimum mass of NaHCO3 that must be added to the spill to neutralize the acid? Express your answer using two significant figures.

Answer 1

The answer is 30 g of sodium hydrocarbonate

Step-by-step explanation:

This is a acid-base reaction, so in order to neutralise the spilled acid, the mol of spilled acid should be calculated.

M = n / V => n = M x V = 0.028 x 6.2 = 0.1736 mol

Since 1 mol of sulfuric acid generates 2 mol of H⁺, so the mole of H⁺ is 0.3472 mol or 0.35 mol with two significant figures.

To neutralized the acid, we need at least the same mole of base, so we need at least 0.35 mol of NaHCO₃, which can be converted to its mass at 29.4 g.

Since the answer need to be expressed in two significant figures and also need to make sure to neutralize all the acid, so we will use a little excess base. The answer is 30 g.