A mixture containing 50grams of carbon and 75 grams of oxygen is sealed in a flask. The total mass of the system is 225 grams. The flask is heated to cause the carbon and oxygen to react. The sealed flask is massed. What is the mass of the sealed flask?

A) 125 grams
B) 150 grams
C) 175 grams
D) 225 grams

Why would it be anything but 225 grams?

225

a. 125 g

225 grams

To find the mass of the sealed flask, we can use the principle of conservation of mass, which states that mass cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.

Since the mixture contains 50 grams of carbon and 75 grams of oxygen, the total mass of the carbon and oxygen is 50 grams + 75 grams = 125 grams.

When the carbon and oxygen react, they combine to form a compound called carbon dioxide (CO2). The chemical formula for carbon dioxide indicates that it contains 1 atom of carbon and 2 atoms of oxygen. From this, we can determine the molar mass of carbon dioxide.

The molar mass of carbon is 12.01 g/mol and the molar mass of oxygen is 16.00 g/mol. So, the molar mass of carbon dioxide is (12.01 g/mol + 2 * 16.00 g/mol) = 44.01 g/mol.

To calculate the number of moles of carbon dioxide formed, we divide the mass of the carbon and oxygen mixture by the molar mass of carbon dioxide:

moles of carbon dioxide = mass of carbon and oxygen / molar mass of carbon dioxide
moles of carbon dioxide = 125 g / 44.01 g/mol = 2.843 moles

Since carbon dioxide is a gas, it will occupy a certain volume within the sealed flask. However, since the problem does not provide any information about the volume of the flask or the conditions (temperature and pressure), we cannot determine the mass of the sealed flask from this information.

Therefore, the answer is not provided in the given options (A, B, C, D).