Calculating Oxygen Atoms in CO2 Molecules: A Step-by-Step Guide

Understanding Mole Concepts in Chemistry

In chemistry, the mole is a fundamental unit that represents the quantity of a substance. One mole of any substance contains (6.022 times 10^{23}) particles, known as Avogadro's number. This principle helps us calculate the number of molecules or atoms in a given quantity of a substance. For instance, if we have (2.71 times 10^{25}) individual carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules, we can determine the number of moles of CO2 using these basic principles.

Calculating Moles from Individual Molecules

To calculate the number of moles from a given number of individual molecules, we use the formula: [ text{Number of moles} frac{text{Number of individual particles}}{text{Avogadro's number}} ]

Example Calculation

Let's take the example given: we have (2.71 times 10^{25}) CO2 molecules. To find the number of moles:

[ text{Number of moles} frac{2.71 times 10^{25}}{6.022 times 10^{23}} 45 text{ moles} ]

This means that (45) moles of CO2 molecules contain (45) moles of carbon (C) atoms and (90) moles of oxygen (O) atoms, since each CO2 molecule contains 1 C atom and 2 O atoms.

Understanding the Composition of CO2

Each molecule of CO2 consists of 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms. Therefore, the number of oxygen atoms in a given amount of CO2 is simply twice the number of moles of CO2. This can be summarized as:

1 mole of CO2 1 mole of C atoms 2 moles of O atoms

Example Calculation with 0.66 moles of CO2

For instance, if we have (0.66) moles of CO2:

[ 0.66 text{ moles of CO2} 0.66 text{ moles of C atoms} (0.66 times 2) text{ moles of O atoms} 1.32 text{ moles of O atoms} ]

Further Calculations: Moles of O2 Molecules from CO2 Molecules

Another example involves calculating the moles of O2 molecules from CO2 molecules. For example, if we have (5.6 times 10^{24}) molecules of CO2:

[ text{Number of moles of CO2} frac{5.6 times 10^{24}}{6.022 times 10^{23}} 9.3 text{ moles} ]

Since 1 mole of CO2 contains 1 mole of O2, we have:

[ 9.3 text{ moles of CO2} 9.3 text{ moles of O2} ]

To find the number of moles of O atoms:

[ 9.3 text{ moles of O2} 9.3 times 2 18.6 text{ moles of O atoms} ]

Conclusion

Understanding the mole concept and the composition of molecules is crucial in chemistry. This guide has provided step-by-step calculations for determining the number of oxygen atoms in CO2 molecules based on the given information and basic principles. If you need to perform similar calculations, these steps should serve as a clear and concise guide.