Final answer:
To burn 9340 L of acetylene gas, 4 tanks of oxygen (each providing 7000 L at 0 °C and 1 atm) are required, considered after calculating the volume of oxygen needed based on the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of acetylene.
Step-by-step explanation:
An oxy-acetylene torch can generate high temperatures suitable for welding and cutting metals due to the combustion of acetylene in oxygen. To determine how many tanks of oxygen are required to burn a given amount of acetylene, we must first look at the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of acetylene:
2 C₂H₂ + 5 O₂ → 4 CO₂ + 2 H₂O
This equation shows that 2 moles of acetylene react with 5 moles of oxygen. Since the volume ratio of gases is the same as the mole ratio at the same temperature and pressure (according to Avogadro's law), we need 5 volumes of oxygen for every 2 volumes of acetylene. We have 9340 L of acetylene, so in theory, we would need 5/2 × 9340 L of oxygen to combust all the acetylene. When you perform the calculation, it shows that we need 23350 L of oxygen.
Each tank of oxygen provides 7000 L, so we divide the total volume of oxygen needed by the volume each oxygen tank provides to find the number of tanks:
23350 L ÷ 7000 L/tank = 3.335 tanks
Since we cannot have a fraction of a tank, you would need to round up to the nearest whole number, requiring 4 tanks of oxygen to completely burn the 9340 L of acetylene.