Here's why:

* Mass-to-volume: The problem gives you the mass of a reactant (baking soda) and asks for the volume of a product (carbon dioxide gas).

* Stoichiometry: The problem requires you to use the balanced chemical equation for the reaction to relate the amount of reactants and products.

Let's break it down further:

1. Chemical Equation: The reaction of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO₃) when heated is:

2 NaHCO₃(s) → Na₂CO₃(s) + H₂O(g) + CO₂(g)

2. Stoichiometry: The equation shows that 2 moles of NaHCO₃ produce 1 mole of CO₂.

3. Mass-to-moles: You'll need to convert the given mass of NaHCO₃ to moles using its molar mass.

4. Moles-to-moles: Use the mole ratio from the balanced equation to find the number of moles of CO₂ produced.

5. Moles-to-volume: Assuming the carbon dioxide gas behaves ideally, you can use the ideal gas law (PV = nRT) to convert moles of CO₂ to volume at a given temperature and pressure (which are usually assumed to be standard conditions).

Therefore, to solve this problem, you'll need to perform these steps:

1. Convert grams of NaHCO₃ to moles.

2. Use the mole ratio from the balanced equation to find moles of CO₂.

3. Use the ideal gas law (PV = nRT) to calculate the volume of CO₂ at a given temperature and pressure.