Question #83b7d

1 Answer
Jun 25, 2017

Here's what I got.

Explanation:

The idea here is that you need to figure out the mass of calcium chloride dihydrate, "CaCl"_2 * 2"H"_2"O", that would deliver enough moles to a solution to get a concentration of "2 mN" of calcium cations.

Since you didn't provide a volume for your solution, let's make the calculations easier by assuming that we're working with "1 L" of solution.

As you know, a solution's molarity tells you the number of moles of solute present in "1 L" of solution. In this case, "1 L" of a "2-mM" solution of calcium chloride will contain

2 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mmoles"))) * "1 mole"/(10^3color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mmoles")))) = 2 * 10^(-3) "moles"

of anhydrous calcium chloride, "CaCl"_2.

Since you know that every mole of calcium chloride dihydrate contains

  • one mole of anhydrous calcium chloride, 1 xx "CaCl"_2
  • two moles of water of hydration, 2 xx "H"_2"O"

you can say that 2 * 10^(-3) moles of anhydrous calcium chloride will be delivered to the solution by 2 * 10^(-3) moles of calcium chloride dihydrate.

Moreover, every mole of anhydrous calcium chloride contains

  • one mole of calcium cations, 1 xx "Ca"^(2+)
  • two moles of chloride anions, 2 xx "Cl"^(-)

This means that the molarity of the calcium cations will match that of the anhydrous calcium chloride.

["Ca"^(2+)] = ["CaCl"_2]

Now, in order to find the molar mass of the hydrate, use the molar mass of anhydrous calcium chloride and the molar mass of water.

You will have

"110.98 g mol"^(-1) + 2 * "18.015 g mol"^(-) = "147.01 g mol"^(-1)

This means that in order to make your solution, you must dissolve

2 * 10^(-3) color(red)(cancel(color(black)("moles CaCl"_2 * 2"H"_2"O"))) * "147.01 g"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("mole CaCl"_2 * 2"H"_2"O")))) = color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)("0.3 g")))

of calcium chloride dihydrate in enough water to get the total volume of the solution to "1 L".

The answer is rounded to one significant figure, the number of sig figs you have for the molarity of the solution.