Chlorine gas can undergo homolytic bond cleavage to form two chlorine atoms according…
CHEMISTRY · Multi-part · AP · Chemistry · Properties of Substances and Mixtures · Properties of Substances and Mixtures
Problem
Chlorine gas can undergo homolytic bond cleavage to form two chlorine atoms according to the process
Cl₂(g) → 2 Cl(g)
The Cl–Cl bond dissociation energy is 243 kJ mol⁻¹. Planck’s constant is h = 6.63 × 10⁻³⁴ J s and the speed of light is c = 3.00 × 10⁸ m s⁻¹.
(a) Calculate the energy (in kJ) carried by a single photon of wavelength 350 nm.
(b) Based on your result in part (a), determine whether a single 350 nm photon contains sufficient energy to break one Cl–Cl bond. Explain your reasoning quantitatively.
(c) Calculate the minimum number of 350 nm photons that would need to be absorbed to homolytically cleave 1.00 mol of Cl₂ molecules.