When methane is burned with oxygen, the products are carbon dioxide and water. If you produce 9 grams of water and 11 grams of carbon dioxide from 16 grams of oxygen, how many

The given question is incomplete.

The complete question is:

When methane is burned with oxygen, the products are carbon dioxide and water. If you produce 9 grams of water and 11 grams of carbon dioxide from 16 grams of oxygen, how many grams of methane were needed for the reaction?

4 grams of methane were needed for the reaction

Explanation:

According to the law of conservation of mass, mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. Thus the mass of products has to be equal to the mass of reactants. The number of atoms of each element has to be same on reactant and product side. Thus chemical equations are balanced.

{tex]CH_4+2O_2\rightarrow CO_2+H_2O[/tex]

Given:  mass of oxygen = 16 g

Mass of carbon dioxide = 11 g

Mass of water = 9 g

Mass of products = Mass of carbon dioxide + mass of water = 11 g  +9 g = 20 g

Mass or reactant = mass of methane + mass of oxygen = mass of methane + 16 g

As mass of reactants = mass of products

mass of methane + 16 g= 20 g

mass of methane  = 4 g

Thus 4 grams of methane were needed for the reaction