Question

An open container contained 150g of lead carbonate. After heating for 5 hours, the contents of the container were measured to have a mass of 98g.

How much mass was “lost” from the container? Where did it go?

Answer 1

52 g was lost as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere

Step-by-step explanation:

When lead carbonate is heated, it decomposes into two components:

1. Lead oxide

2. carbon dioxide

While the lead oxide remains a yellow solid in the heating container, the carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere as a gas. The equation of the reaction is as below:

`PbCO_3_((s)) --> PbO_((s)) + CO_2_((g))`

Hence, if a 150 g lead oxide is heated in a container and the final mass is 98 g, it means 52 g (150 - 98) of the total mass has been lost as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.