General Stoichiometry Debriefing
Many cake and cookie recipes use baking powder as an ingredient. If you have ever baked a cake and forgotten to add this ingredient, you quickly learned that it is essential for the cake to rise. Baking powder contains calcium dihydrogen phosphate, Ca(H2PO4)2, and sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO3 (also called sodium bicarbonate). When the powder is dry, these two compounds do not react. When the powder is in solution, they quickly react forming carbon dioxide. It is the carbon dioxide gas that causes the cake to rise.
The balanced chemical equation for this process is:
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Clicking on formulas will show molecular weights. |
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How
many grams of calcium dihydrogen phosphate would you need to have to react
completely with 0.50 g sodium hydrogen carbonate?
Let's first map out this problem. Since a balanced chemical equation can relate moles of any material to moles of any other material, it is best to start with this relationship when starting a map. You can then use conversion factors to obtain the desired units.
Fill
in your answer in the box below. If you want help for any of the steps
for this problem, click on the arrow for the step in the map above.