Question

It is likely that cyanobacteria played a key role in launching the carbon cycle because they were among the first organisms capable of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis involves a set of chemical reactions driven by sunlight (hy) and consumes carbon dioxide and water and turns these starting materials into glucose (C6H1206) and oxygen. A balanced symbolic chemical equation modeling photosynthesis is shown below. For every one mole of carbon dioxide consumed, how many moles of oxygen are produced? 6 CO2 (g) + 6 H20 (1) -> CGH1206 (aq) + 6 O2 (g) 12 mol 6 mol 1 mol

Answer 1

From the balanced chemical equation for photosynthesis, for every 6 moles of carbon dioxide consumed, 6 moles of oxygen are produced. We have a 1:1 mole ratio between carbon dioxide and oxygen gas. Therefore, for every one mole of carbon dioxide consumed, 1 mole of oxygen is produced.