The carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts can be removed by its reaction with lithium hydroxide, lioh, according to the following chemical equation: co2(g) + 2lioh(s) — li2co3(s)
+ h2o4). how many moles of lithium carbonate are produced when 20.0 mol co2 the average
amount exhaled by a person each day, reacts completely with lithium hydroxide?

20.0 mol

Explanation:

The balanced chemical equation is already given for this process. According to the corrected balanced chemical equation, carbon dioxide reacts with 2 moles of lithium hydroxide to produce 1 mole of lithium carbonate and 1 mole of water:

Notice that the problem states that 20.0 mol of carbon dioxide react completely. This implies that carbon dioxide is the limiting reactant. According to the balanced chemical equation, 1 mole of carbon dioxide produces 1 mole of lithium carbonate (pay close attention to the coefficients in the balanced chemical equation).

This means if we have 20.0 mol of carbon dioxide, we can produce a maximum of 20.0 mol of lithium carbonate.