Suppose 2 moles of methane... HELP!

[freshpo]

Okay so I need some help figuring out this problem balancing wise...

Heres the equation:
CH₄(g) + O₂(g) = CO₂(g) + H₂O (L)

Suppose 2 moles of methane (CH₄) is allowed to react with 3 moles of oxygen...

So I can't figure out the product side!

2CH₄(g) + 3O₂(g) = ? CO₂(g) + ? H₂O(L)

[sharan]

Hey
You see that if we are not specified with number of moles, we can see that the equation would be
CH₄ + 2 O₂ = CO₂ + 2 H₂O

Now you see every 1 mole of CH₄ must react with 2 moles of O₂ to give 1 mole of CO₂ and two moles of H₂O.

So CH₄ Is half than oxygen. ANd CO₂ is half than H₂O
But we have 2 moles of CH₄ so we wud need 4 moles of O₂ but have only 3 moles
This means oxygen is limiting reagant. So overall prodcuts would be dependent on that. So, we would have

3/2 CH₄ + 3O₂ =3/2 CO₂ + 3H₂O

hope that helps,