You want to help your younger sibling make an exploding volcano for their science class. The lava will be made from reacting baking soda with vinegar. After building the volcano, you know that you want to create about 112.0 g of lava(or sodium acetate). Too little lava, and the volcano won’t overflow. Too much lava would be a giant mess! Using stoichiometry and the equation below, calculate the exact amount of baking soda needed to make 112.0 g of lava. Assume you have excess vinegar.

∴grams of NaHCO₃(s) needed = 118.8 grams NaHCO₃

Explanation:

HC₂H₃O₂ + NaHCO₃ => NaC₂H₃O₂(s) + H₂O(l) + CO₂(g)

(excess)      (? grams)     (112.0 grams = 112.0g/82.03g·mol⁻¹ = 1.37mol)

Since the reaction ratios are all 1:1 the moles of  NaC₂H₃O₂(s) produced equals the number of moles of NaHCO₃(s) used.

Therefore, for 1.37 moles of  NaC₂H₃O₂(s) produced one will need 1.37 moles of NaHCO₃(s).

Converting moles to grams, multiply by formula weight of NaHCO₃ (87.003 g/mole) ...

∴grams of NaHCO₃(s) needed = 1.37 mole x 87.003 g/mole = 118.8 grams NaHCO₃