Question

Stoichiometry Stumper

You are a forensic scientist. You are investigating a murder involving poison. The victim was poisoned with a compound called di-chloro benzene whose formula is C6H4Cl2. Autopsy results show that the victim’s body contained about 31 g of the poison, but the actual amount could have been slightly higher due to tissue absorption. The main suspect is his wife, Suzanne, who works as a chemistry professor at the local university. Records show that she purchased 15 g of benzene (C6H6) two days before the murder. Benzene is one of the compounds used to make the poison, but she claims she was using it to make ethyl benzene (C6H5CH3), an innocuous compound, for use in her lab. She shows you the bottle of ethyl benzene she claims to have made. It contains 25 grams of ethyl benzene.

Is she telling the truth or did she have more nefarious motives? If you can show that it is possible to produce 25 g of ethyl benzene from 15 grams of benzene, then she was telling the truth. Otherwise, you will have caught her in a lie, which makes it likely she killed her husband with the poison. After extensive research in the literature, you find the two reactions related to this case. Show all work.

Answer 1

From the calculation, Suzanne is lying and she is guilty of killing her husband.

What is stoichiometry?

Stoichiometry provides a means of calculating the relationship between mass and mole or mole and volume in a reaction.

Now the preparation of ethylbenzene goes according to the reaction;

C6H6 + C2H6 ---->C6H5C2H5 + H2

Number of moles of benzene =  15 g/78 g/mol = 0.192 moles

Number of moles of ethyl benzene= 25 g/106 g/mol = 0.236 moles

Since the reaction is 1:1, 0.192 moles of ethyl benzene is produced.

Mass of 0.192 moles  of ethylbenzene =  0.192 moles * 106 g/mol = 20.4 g

Suzanne is lying.

Learn more about stoichiometry: https://brainly.com/question/974398