Baking soda (nahco3) decomposes when it is heated according to the equation below. how many kilojoules of heat are required to decompose 1.96 mol nahco3 (s)

The balanced reaction for the decomposition of baking soda is

2 NaHCO3 (s) → Na2CO3 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2 O (g)

We can find the heat of reaction by using the Hess' Law. This is done by using this formula:

∑ (Hf, products) - ∑ (Hf, reactants) = Heat of reaction

where Hf is the heat of formation. According to literature, these are the heats of formation for each of the compounds in the reaction:

NaHCO3: - 947.68 kJ/mol

Na2CO3: - 1130.94 kJ/mol

CO2: - 393.51 kJ/mol

H2O: - 241.8 kJ/mol

Applying Hess' Law:

[1 (-1130.94) + 1 (-241.82) ] + 1 (-393.51) ] - [2 (-947.68) ] = 129.09 kJ

Thus, the heat of reaction is 129.09 kJ/mol NaHCO3. Since there is 1.96 mol of NaHCO3, the total heat of reaction is 253.02 kJ.