Final answer:
The correct whole number coefficient for carbon monoxide is B. 1, reflecting the 1:1 atomic ratio of carbon to oxygen in the molecule.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct whole number coefficient for carbon monoxide is B. 1. In the chemical formula for carbon monoxide, CO, there is one atom of carbon (C) and one atom of oxygen (O), which is reflected by a coefficient of 1 for each element when written in its simplest form. This aligns with the practice in chemistry of using the smallest possible whole-number coefficients in a chemical equation to represent the relative numbers of reactants and products. In carbon monoxide, the ratio of carbon to oxygen by mass is also in a small whole number ratio, specifically 1:1.333, which simplifies to a 1:1 ratio by atoms due to the atomic mass of carbon and oxygen, which are 12 and 16 units, respectively, according to the periodic table.