Question

Iron is obtained commercially by the reaction of hematite (Fe2O3) with carbon monoxide. How many grams of iron are produced if 13.0 moles of hematite react with 38.0 moles of carbon monoxide?

Answer 1

This is the equation for that reaction:
\[Fe_2O_3(s)+3CO(g) \rightarrow 2Fe(s)+3CO_2(g)\]This is a limiting reactant problem, so let's first find what the limiting reactant is.

For 13 mols of hematite, we need:
\[13molFe_2O_3*\frac{3molCO}{1molFe_2O_3}=39molCO\]We only have 38.0 mols of CO, so that means that the CO is the limiting reactant.

Now, let's see how much iron is produced by 38.0 mols of CO:

\[38.0molCO*\frac{2.00molFe}{3.00molCO}=25.3molFe\]