The Russian Mir space station used a chemical oxygen generator system to make oxygen for the crew. The system ignited a tube of solid lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) to make oxygen and lithium chloride (LiCl):

LiClO4 (s) ( 2O2 (g) + LiCl (s)

If you have 500 g of LiClO4, then how many liters of oxygen will the system make at the station’s standard operating conditions, a pressure of 101.5 kPa and a temperature of 21°C? (Show the steps involved in your work.)

Question

The Russian Mir space station used a chemical oxygen generator system to make oxygen for the crew. The system ignited a tube of solid lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) to make oxygen and lithium chloride (LiCl):

LiClO4 (s) ( 2O2 (g) + LiCl (s)

If you have 500 g of LiClO4, then how many liters of oxygen will the system make at the station’s standard operating conditions, a pressure of 101.5 kPa and a temperature of 21°C? (Show the steps involved in your work.)

Mercury · Answer

LiClO4 (s) --> 2O2 (g) + LiCl (s)

equation is already balanced (always check) so I'm going to move to the stoich.

convert 500g of LiClO4 to moles by dividing by the molar mass. from there, 1 mol LiClO4 produces 2 mol of oxygen according to the equation, so multiply your previous result by 2 to get moles oxygen. from there, you can use PV = nRT to solve for the volume of oxygen (be careful with units).