How many grams of sodium azide are required to form 5.00 g of nitrogen gas?

Question

Automotive airbags inflate when sodium azide, NaN₃, rapidly decomposes to its component elements via this reaction.

2NaN₃ → 2Na + 3N₂

How many grams of sodium azide are required to form 5.00 g of nitrogen gas?

The molar mass of sodium azide is 64.99 g/mol

The molar mass of nitrogen gas is 28.00 g/mol

Show all steps in the solution of this question, including proper units, for full credit.

Answer 1

Hi Shaylyn! here is how this problem would be set up:

5.00g N₂ x (1 mol N₂ / 28.00g N₂) x (2 mol NaN₃ / 3 mol N₂) x (64.99g NaN₃ / 1 mol NaN₃) = 7.74g NaN₃

When you solve this and cancel out like units, you should get 7.74g NaN₃ are required. Hope this helps! Fell free to reach out with additional questions.