Video Transcript
In which of the following chemical
reactions is carbon dioxide a product? (A) C plus O2 react to produce
CO2. (B) Two C plus O2 react to produce
two CO. (C) CO2 plus H2O react to produce
H2CO3. (D) Ca(OH)2 plus CO2 react to
produce CaCO3 plus H2O. (E) CaCO3 plus CO2 plus H2O react
to produce Ca(HCO3)2.
A chemical reaction is a process
where one or more substances are changed into one or more new substances. The starting substances in a
chemical reaction are called the reactants, and the new substances which are formed
are called the products. Chemical reactions can be expressed
by a chemical equation. A chemical equation is a set of
chemical formulas which represent the reactant and product substances in a chemical
reaction. In a chemical equation, the
reactants are written to the left of an arrow and the products are written to the
right.
This question provides us with five
different chemical equations. We need to determine which of these
equations shows carbon dioxide as a product.
First, we need to determine the
chemical formula of carbon dioxide. The chemical symbol of carbon is
C. Oxide stands for the element
oxygen, which has the chemical symbol O. The prefix di- means two. This means that there are two
oxygen atoms in carbon dioxide. We indicate this by writing a
subscript two after the chemical symbol O.
Now that we know that carbon
dioxide has the chemical formula CO2, we need to identify which chemical equation
has CO2 listed as a product. The equations shown in answer
choices (A), (C), (D), and (E) all contain the chemical formula CO2. However, in answer choices (C),
(D), and (E), CO2 appears to the left of the arrow, indicating that carbon dioxide
is a reactant. In answer choice (A), CO2 is
written to the right of the arrow, indicating that carbon dioxide is a product.
Therefore, the chemical reaction
where carbon dioxide is a product is answer choice (A): C plus O2 react to produce
CO2.
