Question #c09a5

1 Answer
mrpauller.weebly.com
Nov 20, 2014

In 1 mole of sodium carbonate (Na_2CO_3) there would be 2 moles of sodium ions (#Na^+).

Sodium ions have a +1 charge (Na^+), and carbonate ions have a -2 charge (CO_3^-2) so you know that these ions must combine in a 2:1 ratio to give a compound which has no charge (electrically neutral).

Once you have determined the chemical formula, let's consider what it means.

Na_2CO_3 = is the chemical formula for sodium carbonate

Imagine you have just one unit sodium carbonate - you would have 2 ions of Na.

If you had 10 units of Na_2CO_3 you would have 20 sodium ions.

100 units of Na_2CO_3 would have 200 sodium ions.

1,000,000 units of Na_2CO_3 would have 2,000,000 sodium ions.

Now multiply by a really big number, 6.022 x 10^23

You would have 1.2044 x 10^24 sodium ions, which is 2 moles.

The important thing is the ratio. Since the ratio is 2:1, 1 mole of Na_2CO_3 will have 2 moles of Na.

Hope this helps!
Noel P.

Related questions
See all questions in The Mole
Impact of this question
8852 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License