Question

a local business supplies firewood to its customers. this business periodically provides wood samples to a testing laboratory to perform various analyses including mass, density, water content, burn time, and emissions analyses. the business uses these testing results to ensure that they are providing the best quality firewood to its customers.

wood is made mostly of cellulose and has a chemical formula of c₆h₁₀o₅. it burns with oxygen (o₂) to during combustion to form carbon dioxide (co₂) and water (h₂o). which of the following equations represents the cellulose combustion reaction?

Explanation:

Step1: Write the reactants

The reactants are cellulose ($C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}$) and oxygen ($O_{2}$), so we start with $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}+O_{2}$.

Step2: Write the products

The products are carbon - dioxide ($CO_{2}$) and water ($H_{2}O$), so we have $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}+O_{2}
ightarrow CO_{2}+H_{2}O$.

Step3: Balance the equation

We need to balance the number of atoms on both sides. For carbon, we have 6 carbon atoms in $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}$, so we put a 6 in front of $CO_{2}$. For hydrogen, we have 10 hydrogen atoms in $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}$, so we put a 5 in front of $H_{2}O$. Then for oxygen, on the left - hand side we have 5 oxygen atoms in $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}$ and 2x in $xO_{2}$, and on the right - hand side we have 62 + 51 = 17 oxygen atoms. So we need 6 oxygen molecules to balance the equation. The balanced equation is $C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}+6O_{2}
ightarrow6CO_{2}+5H_{2}O$.

Answer:

$C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}+6O_{2}
ightarrow6CO_{2}+5H_{2}O$