Quantitative Chemistry: Atom Economy

Question 1

What is atom economy?

Answer 1

A measure of the amount of starting materials that end up as useful products.
It’s a ratio of the relative formula mass of the desired product to the sum of the relative formula masses of reactants.

Question 2

Which of the 2 following reactions has a better atom economy?
Reaction 1: CuCO_3(s) + 2HCl_(aq) → CuCl_2(aq) + H₂O_(l) + CO_2(g)

Reaction 2: CuCO_(s) + 2HCl_(aq) → CuCl_2(aq) + H₂O_(l)

Relative formula masses: CuO = 79.5, HCl =36.5, CuCl₂ = 134.5, H₂O = 18.

Answer 2

Reaction 2
88.2%