What is the mass (in grams) of a single molecule of CCl_4?

• A. 1.95 × 10^{-22} grams
• B. 1.20 × 10^{-23} grams
• C. 5.89 × 10^{-24} grams
• D. 2.50 × 10^{-21} grams

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Determine the molar mass of carbon tetrachloride (CCl_4) by adding the atomic masses of one carbon atom and four chlorine atoms. Use the atomic masses: C = 12.01 g/mol and Cl = 35.45 g/mol. The molar mass M is calculated as: \(M = 12.01 + 4 \times 35.45\) g/mol.
2. Recall that the molar mass represents the mass of one mole of molecules. One mole contains Avogadro's number of molecules, which is approximately \$6.022 \times 10^{23}$ molecules/mol.
3. To find the mass of a single molecule, divide the molar mass by Avogadro's number using the formula: \(\text{mass of one molecule} = \frac{M}{6.022 \times 10^{23}}\) grams.
4. Substitute the molar mass value from step 1 into the formula from step 3 to express the mass of one molecule in grams.
5. Perform the division to find the mass of a single CCl_4 molecule, which will be a very small number expressed in scientific notation.