Sodium nitrate when heated can decompose to form oxygen gas and sodium nitrite. What mass of sodium nitrate in grams is required to produce 32.8 g of oxygen.

Answer 1

The balanced reaction is 2 NaNO₃ --> 2NaNO₂ + O₂.

The stoichiometry is (32.8g O₂) * (1 mol O₂ / 32.0g O₂) * (2 mol NaNO₂ / 1 mol O₂) * (85.0g NaNO₂ / 1 mol NaNO₂) = 174g NaNO₂.