You will learn later in this book that sulfur is capable

Chapter , Problem 1DE

(choose chapter or problem)

Problem 1DE

You will learn later in this book that sulfur is capable of forming two common oxides, SO2 and SO3. One question that we might ask is whether the direct reaction between sulfur and oxygen leads to the formation of SO2, SO3, or a mixture of the two. This question has practical significance because SO3 can go onto react with water to form sulfuric acid,

H2SO4, which is produced industrially on a very large scale. Consider also that the answer to this question may depend on the relative amount of each element that is present and the temperature at which the reaction is carried out. For example, carbon and oxygen normally react to form CO2 but, when there is not enough oxygen present, CO can form. On the other hand, under normal reaction conditions H2 and O2 react to form water, H2O (rather than hydrogen peroxide H2O2) regardless of the starting ratio of hydrogen to oxygen.

Suppose you are given a bottle of sulfur, which is a yellow solid, a cylinder of O2, a transparent reaction vessel that can be evacuated and sealed so that only sulfur, oxygen and the product(s) of the reaction between the two are present, an analytical balance so that you can determine the masses of the reactants and/or products, and a furnace that can be used to heat the reaction vessel to 200 °C where the two elements react, (a) If you start with 0.10 mol of sulfur in the reaction