An antacid tablet weighing 0.830 g contained calcium carbonate as the active ingredient, in addition to an inert binder. When an acid solution weighing 56.900 g was added to the tablet, carbon dioxide gas was released, producing a fizz. The resulting solution weighed 57.579 g. How many grams of carbon dioxide were produced?

Explanation: According to the law of conservation of mass, mass cannot be created nor destroyed. For chemical reactions, this means that the sum of the masses of the reactants must equal the sum of the masses of the products.

The reaction between calcium carbonate and an acid solution, for example hydrochloric acid, produces water, calcium chloride and carbon dioxide. Once the reaction has taken place, water and calcium chloride will remain in a solution, while carbon dioxide will be liberated as a gas.

The sum of the weights of the reactants (calcium carbonate and the acid solution) is:

[tex]0.830 g+56.900 g=57.730 g[/tex]

Therefore, the sum of the weights of the products (water, calcium chloride and carbon dioxide) must equal 57.730 grams. However, when the solution is weighed after the reaction, a measurement of 57.579 g is obtained, which is less than the initial weight. This difference in weight equals the weight of the carbon dioxide that was lost to the environment when it was liberated as a gaseous product.

Therefore, if we take the difference between these two weights we will get:

[tex]57.730 g-57.579 g=0.151 g[/tex]

This is the amount of grams of carbon dioxide produced during the reaction.