What is the mass percentage of carbon in carbon dioxide?

(A) 0.034%
(B) 27.27%
(C) 3.4%
(D) 28.7%

Hint: Mass percentage is calculated by taking the mass of the particular component divided by the mass of the entire mixture multiplied by 100. It is an expression of concentration.

Complete step by step answer:
-First we will see what mass percentage is. It is basically an expression of concentration and describes the component or compound in a particular mixture. Mass percentage is calculated as the mass of a component divided by the total mass of the mixture, multiplied by 100.
Mathematically it can be written as:
$\% mass = \dfrac{{wt.component}}{{wt.mixture}} \times 100$ (1)
-We know that the atomic weight of carbon is 12 grams and that of oxygen is 16 grams.

So, we will first calculate the molecular weight of $C{O_2}$:
Mol. Wt. of $C{O_2}$ = 12 + 2(16)
= 44 g/mol

-We will now calculate the mass % of carbon using equation (1):

$\% mass = \dfrac{{At.wt.carbon}}{{M.wt.C{O_2}}} \times 100$
= $\dfrac{{12}}{{44}} \times 100$
= 27.27%

Hence we have calculated the mass 5 of carbon in carbon dioxide to be 27.27%.


So, the correct option will be: (B) 27.27%


Note: $C{O_2}$ is a colourless and odourless gas. It has a linear structure where a carbon atom is covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is a greenhouse gas and is acidic in nature. It has a wide range of applications in food industry, chemical industry, oil industry, as fire extinguisher, refrigerant, etc. It is present in the earth’s atmosphere as a trace gas and is a primary source of carbon for life on earth.