What mass of oxygen gas is produced when 0.085 liters of diphosphorus pentoxide decompose?

Answer 1

My answer is 0.303 grams of oxygen

I broke this problem into 3 parts to understand what the process is.

Assuming diphosphorus pentoxide decomposes into oxygen gas and phosphorus

Write a balanced chemical equation:

2P2O5 ---> 5O2 + 4P

1.) Put the given on the left side of the paper, and assume that 1 mole (at STP) is occuring

to figure out how many moles there are of P3O5 in actuality.

0.085L P2O5 x 1mol P2O5/ 22.4L = 0.00379 mol P2O5

2.) Put the calculated moles of P2O5 on the left side of the paper and look at the ratio from the balance equation to multiply the number of moles of P2O5 you have to figure out how many moles of oxygen will be produced

0.00379 mol P2O5 x 5 mol O2/2 mol P2O5 = 0.00948 mol O2

3.) Finally, put the number of moles of oxygen produced on the left side of the paper and multiply by the molar mass conversion factor to give the actual mass in grams of oxygen produced

0.00948 mol O2 x 32g O2/ 1 mol O2 = 0.303 g O2

4.) If asked, express answer in scientific notation and pay attention to significant figures