Question

How do you calculate the number of chloride ions in 0.5 mol of Magnesium Chloride?

Answer 1

See below.

Explanation:

Step 1: Write out the chemical formula of the compound.

Magnesium Chloride = `MgCl_2`

Step 2: Convert moles into number of compounds using Avogadro's number

`"0.5 moles" MgCl_2*((6.022*10^23)/("1 mole" MgCl_2))=3.011*10^23`

Step 3: Determine how many Chloride ions there will be in 1 compound

There will be 2 `Cl^(-)` ions in each compound (`Cl_2` part)

Step 4: Multiply the number from Step 2 by the number in Step 3

`3.011*10^23*2=6.022*10^23`

We do this because the ratio is 2 `Cl^(-)` ions for every 1 compound.

In the case of finding how many ions in general (both sodium and chloride), we would multiply by 3 because there are 3 ions per 1 compound.

Step 5: All done!

I hope this helped!