Question

how many moles of ethanol react with one mole of sodium:

A)1B)2C)3D)4

Answer 1

If we consider the reaction in general then it can be said that that one molecule of ethanol reacts with one molecule of sodium to produce half a molecule of hydrogen.

${\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{OH}+\mathrm{Na}\to {\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{ONa}+\frac{1}{2}{\mathrm{H}}_2$

So, the answer should be (A).

However, if we consider the balanced reaction,

$2{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{OH}+2\mathrm{Na}\to 2{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{ONa}+{\mathrm{H}}_2$

then it can be said that two molecules of ethanol react with two molecules of sodium to produce one molecule of hydrogen.