When phosphorus reacts with chlorine, phosphorus trichloride is formed according to the following equation: ___P₄(s) + ___Cl₂(g)$\rightarrow$___PCl₃(l) (unbalanced) Balance the equation and determine how many grams of phosphorus reactant would be required to produce 75.0 g of phosphorus trichloride, assuming there is sufficient chlorine available.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The balanced equation is:

P4(s) + 6Cl2(g) → 4PCl3(l)

To find out how much phosphorus is needed to produce 75.0 g of PCl3, we can use stoichiometry. First, we need to convert the given mass of PCl3 to moles using its molar mass:

75.0 g PCl3 × (1 mol PCl3/137.32 g PCl3) = 0.546 mol PCl3

According to the balanced equation, 1 mole of P4 reacts with 6 moles of Cl2 to produce 4 moles of PCl3. Therefore, the number of moles of P4 required can be calculated as:

0.546 mol PCl3 × (1 mol P4/4 mol PCl3) × (1 P4/6) = 0.0455 mol P4

Finally, we can use the molar mass of P4 to convert this number of moles to grams:

0.0455 mol P4 × (123.9 g P4/1 mol P4) = 5.63 g P4

Therefore, the answer is C) 16.9 g (rounded to three significant figures).

When Phosphorus Reacts with Chlorine, Phosphorus Trichloride Is Formed According →\rightarrow→

When Phosphorus Reacts with Chlorine, Phosphorus Trichloride Is Formed According $\rightarrow$