About 60 million tonnes of calcium oxide is made in Britain each year. How would you calculate the mass of calcium carbonate needed to make this amount of calcium oxide?

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Answer 1 · 2017-04-09T07:10:31

We need (i) a stoichiometric equation:

#CaCO_3(s) + Delta rarr CaO(s) + CO_2(g)uarr#

And (ii) equivalent quantities of calcium oxide...........

#=(60xx10^6*"tonnes"xx10^6*g*"tonne"^-1)/(56.8*g*mol^-1)#

#=1.06xx10^12*"moles CaO"#

Given the 1:1 stoichiometry, we generate #1.06xx10^12*mol# carbon dioxide gas, and CLEARLY we require #1.06xx10^12*mol* CaCO_3#.

And this represents a mass of .....................................

#1.06xx10^12*molxx100.06*g*mol^-1=1.06xx10^14*g=#

#1.06xx10^11*kg#

Note that while this seems a large quantity, this is almost exclusively used for the production of mortar and concrete, i.e. building materials.