Exactly of a gaseous mixture of and is passed through a tube containing red-hot charcoal. Assuming a — States of Matter and Gaseous State Chemistry Question
Question
Exactly $1.0\text{ Litre}$ of a gaseous mixture of $CO$ and $CO_2$ is passed through a tube containing red-hot charcoal. Assuming all the $CO_2$ reacts and conditions of temperature and pressure remain constant, the total volume of the gas mixture becomes $1.6\text{ Litres}$. What was the initial volume of $CO_2$ in the mixture?
💡 Solution & Explanation
The reaction with red-hot charcoal is $CO_2(g) + C(s) \rightarrow 2CO(g)$. Let the initial volume of $CO_2$ be $x\text{ Litres}$. It reacts to produce $2x\text{ Litres}$ of $CO$. The initial volume of $CO$ in the mixture was $(1 - x)\text{ Litres}$. The final total volume consists entirely of $CO$: Final Volume = Initial $CO$ + Newly formed $CO$ = $(1 - x) + 2x = 1 + x$. Given that the final volume is $1.6\text{ L}$, we set $1 + x = 1.6$, which yields $x = 0.6\text{ L}$. Thus, the initial volume of $CO_2$ was $0.6\text{ Litres}$.