Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help me solve the following problem?
A sample of PbCO3.xPb(OH)2 was heated with excess sulfurinc acid, yielding PbSO4(s), H2O(l), and CO2(g). If 2.280 g of PbSO4 and 0.1104g of CO2 were obtained, what is the value of x?
I've attempted to solve the problem, but I can't seem to have a good grasp of the material. Anyways this is what I've got, thus far:
Chemical Equation: (don't know if it's right or not)
PbCo3.xPb(OH)2 + H2SO4(aq) --> PbSO4(s) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
I tried converting the values to percentages to see if anything would click as follows:
%PbSO4 + %CO2 + %H2O = 100%
2.280% + 0.1104% + %H2O = 100%
H2O = 97.61g H2O
PbSO4 = 2.280g PbSO4
CO2 = .1104g CO2
H2O = 97.61g H2O
I tried to use the above values to solve for the moles and then for the
Empirical Formula to see if that would give me x but that was no help at all as I got huge mole numbers on one of them. My problem is that, conceptually, I don't know how to proceed.
Can anyone provide a path I should follow to solve this thing?
Thanks,
HDC