Question

Mr. Holmes and Mrs. Nogaki are having a good old fashioned Baby Back Ribs BBQ contest and are arguing over who’s BBQ produces less greenhouse gasses. Mrs. Nogaki uses natural gas to power her BBQ and provided the balanced equation to Mr. Holmes as proof of how efficient her grill is.

CH4 + 2O2→CO2 +2H2O

Mrs. Nogaki claims that for every mole of natural gas burned, only 1 mole of CO2 is produced.

Mr. Holmes doesn’t have a prepared balanced equation but knows that the chemical formula of propane is C3H8 and that it is a combustion reaction.

Who is right?

Question 19 options:

Mrs. Nogaki is right because Mr. Holmes’s BBQ produces 2x less CO2 for each mole of fuel burned.


Both are right because in a combustion reaction, CO2 and water are always produced.


Mr. Holmes is right because his BBQ produces less CO2 for each mole of fuel burned than Mrs. Nogaki’s grill.


Mrs. Nogaki is right because Mr. Holmes’s BBQ produces 3x more CO2 for each mole of fuel burned.

Answer 1

Mrs. Nogaki is right because Mr. Holmes’s BBQ produces 3x more CO2 for each mole of fuel burned.

Step-by-step explanation:

Now Mrs. Nogaki has already figured out the chemical combustion reaction behind the operation of her BBQ. It is pertinent to reproduce it here.

CH4(g) + 2O2(g)→CO2(g) +2H2O(g)

She already has this figured out but Mr. Holmes doesn't have any chemical reaction equation to back his claims. Let us help him with the correct combustion equation for propane.

C3H8(g) + 5O2(g) + 3CO2(g) + 4H2O(g)

We can clearly see from the reaction equation that Mr. Holmes BBQ produces three times more carbon IV oxide than Mr. Nogaki's BBQ so Mr. Nogaki was right in her claim after all.

Hence the answer!