Question #d6e76

1 Answer
Oct 8, 2017

"6 g Na"_2"CO"_36 g Na2CO3

Explanation:

The idea here is that the carbonate anions delivered to the solution by the soluble sodium carbonate will react with the calcium cations to form calcium carbonate, "CaCO"_3CaCO3, an insoluble solid that precipitates out of the solution.

"Ca"_ ((aq))^(2+) + "CO"_ (3(aq))^(-) -> "CaCO"_ (3(s)) darrCa2+(aq)+CO3(aq)CaCO3(s)

Start by using the density of the solution to find its mass

300 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("cm"^3))) * "1.015 g"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("cm"^3)))) = "304.5 g"

This solution is 2% calcium chloride by mass, which means that very "100 g" of this solution will contain "2 g" of calcium chloride.

This implies that your sample contains

304.5 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g solution"))) * "2 g CaCl"_2/(100color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g solution")))) = "6.09 g CaCl"_2

Next, use the molar mass of calcium chloride to find the number of moles present in the sample.

6.09 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g"))) * "1 mole CaCl"_2/(110.98color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g")))) = "0.0549 moles CaCl"_2

Now, calcium chloride is soluble in water, which means that it exists as calcium cations and chloride anions in aqueous solution.

"CaCl"_ (2(aq)) -> "Ca"_ ((aq))^(2+) + 2"Cl"_ ((aq))^(-)

As you can see, the solution contains 1 mole of calcium cations for every 1 mole of calcium chloride that dissociated. You can thus say that the sample contains 0.0549 moles of calcium cations.

Since the calcium cations and the carbonate anions react in a 1:1 mole ratio, you can say that in order to precipitate 0.0549 moles of calcium cations, you need 0.0549 moles of carbonate anions.

Now, you know that for every 1 mole of sodium carbonate, itself a soluble ionic compound, that you dissolve in solution, you get 1 mole of carbonate anions.

"Na"_ 2"CO"_ (3(aq)) -> 2"Na"_ ((aq))^(+) + "CO"_ (3(aq))^(2-)

This tells you that in order to get 0.0549 moles of carbonate anions in the solution, you need to dissolve 0.0549 moles of sodium carbonate.

Finally, use the molar mass of the compound to convert the number of moles to grams

0.0549 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("moles Na"_2"CO"_3))) * "105.99 g"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole Na"_2"CO"_3)))) = color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)("6 g")))

The answer must be rounded to one significant figure, the number of sig figs you have for your values.