Full question is in the description

Question

the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen by mass in NO2 is 2.29. The ratio of chlorine to nitrogen by mass in NCl3 is 7.61. Find the ratio of oxygen to chlorine by mass in Cl2O.

Answer 1

Hi Jess.

 

From a periodic table.

The mass of oxygen is 15.9994

The mass of chlorine is 35.453

We have two chlorine atoms

 

The ratio is

15.9994/(35.453•2) = 0.2256

 

You can also solve this problem from the info given for NO₂ and NCl₃

NO_{2         2.29}

----- = --------

NCl_{3        7.61}

 

But this would be the ratio of 2 oxygen to 3 chlorine

We want the ratio of 1 oxygen to 2 chlorine

 

So we need to divide the 2.29 by 2 and multiply the 7.61 by 2/3.  This gives us.

 

   2.29/2        1.145

----------- = --------  = .2257

7.61•2/3       5.073

 

The solutions differ in the 4th decimal place but the data given only had 2 decimal places, they both round to 0.23.