DIfferent Amounts of Oxygen in Combustion?

JDK

Hello,

I know I should have knowledge of this, but I can't seem to remember very well what happens in combustion reactions with a very short supply, limited supply, and abundant supply of oxygen. What is the difference? I know complete combustion hands down, but what happens in a problem such as this...

(Write a balanced equation to represent the following)
a) Combustion of butane in a very short supply of oxygen


[?] Thanks so much! I don't need answers really, just an explanation of the three categorizations and their significance while writing the equations.

Bystander

How "short" is a "very short supply?" How is the combustion process conducted? add butane incrementally to the limited oxygen? oxygen incrementally to the butane? mix and ignite?

JDK

That it does not specify. Sorry. I'm in Chem 20 and currently completing the Unit on Organic Halides and Hydrocarbon Reactions. What I posted is what the question completely is. I'm thinking, since I'm just beginning to learn organic chemistry, that the most simple assumption would be the correct one for the Q.

Bystander

My inferrence from "short" and "limited" is that less than the stoichiometric minimum for complete combustion is available --- that said, there ain't no balanced equations for such combustions without a LOT of additional data.

The "simplest" assumption I can make is that the text for the course is less than carefully written. From that point, all I can suggest to you is that somewhere in the text are comments loosely defining "short, limited, and abundant" in the author's mind, and that the author's assertions regarding the topic are what you are to "regurgitate" as an indication that you have read the material, be it correct, or not.

You have my sympathies, and I'll wish you luck on this, and if you're going to continue in chemistry, be certain to understand that some sources are more useful than others.

russ_watters

THIS may be of use. It contains a java applet for calculating combustion products at different equivalence ratios. As you can see, non-stoichiometric combustion gets very complex.

nautica

You get CO instead of CO2 as a byproduct, which isnt' good.

Nautica