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Unit 5 / Stoichiometry

Using a Balanced Chemical Equation as a Recipe

We have seen how we can write chemical equations to predict what atoms
and ions will form when they rearrange. However, a balanced equation can allow
us to do something even more powerful. Using the coefficients like a recipe, we
can predict how much and how many of the new substances will form.

Stoichiometry - the quantitative aspects of chemical reactions.

Greek  stoicheion = element  stoichiometry = "element measure"


metron = measure

Each balanced chemical equation provides a "recipe" for the reaction.

2H2(g) + O2(g)  2H2O(g) balanced equation

Recipe: 2 molecules hydrogen + 1 molecule oxygen  2 molecules water


Reactants ("Ingredients") Products

Compare to:
Recipe: 1 slice bologna + 2 slices bread  1 bologna sandwich
Ingredients ("Reactants") Product

Bo(s) + 2Br(s)  BoBr2(s)

No matter if we are making 1 sandwich (2 slices Br/1 slice Bo),


100 sandwiches (200Br/100 Bo), 1 mole of sandwiches (2 mol Br/1 mol Bo), or
10 moles of sandwiches (20 mol Br/10 mol Bo) we will always need twice as
much bread as meat. The ratio is fixed by the recipe to make the product.
Lets go back to the molecules. How many molecules of water would be
produced if you started with 4 molecules of hydrogen and 2 molecules of
oxygen? 20 molecules of hydrogen and 10 molecules of oxygen? However,
we've already learned that we don't work with small numbers of individual
"particles" (atoms/ions/molecules/or formula units) in the lab because they are so
tiny. We work with large numbers of "particles" at a time and use the mole as a
counting unit. The coefficients of a balanced equation tell us "how many" whether
we are dealing with single "particles" or large groups.

2H2(g) + 1O2(g)  2H2O(g)


2 molecules 1 molecule 2 molecules
200 molecules 100 molecules 200 molecules
12,000 molecules 6,000 molecules 12,000 molecules
4 million molecules 2 million molecules 4 million molecules
2 mol molecules 1 mol molecules 2 mol molecules
10 mol molecules 5 mol molecules 10 mol molecules
8 x 1023 molecules 4 x 1023 molecules 8 x 1023 molecules
All of these relationships would be correct!!!!

Chemistry Raleigh Charter High School Dr. Genez


Coefficients only give you relationships in "how many" not "how much"
because everything has a different relative mass. So notice (really,
notice!) that although mass and atoms are conserved (36.0 g of
reactants = 36.0 g of products), the 2:1:2 recipe does not work for
mass.
2H2(g) + O2(g)  2H2O(g)
4.0 g 32.0 g 36.0 g

So we have seen that the coefficients of an equation provide both of the following:
a. a recipe for individual "particles"
b. a recipe for large groups (moles) of particles

The balanced chemical equation becomes a powerful tool because it provides


quantitative relationships among all the reactants and products in a
chemical reaction. Therefore we can use the balanced equation to quickly solve
a variety of problems which appear to be to be very complex. By knowing the
amount of a reactant (ingredient) we start with in a chemical reaction, we can use
the balanced equation for that particular reaction to predict how much of the
products will be produced or how much of the other reactant will be needed.
Anytime you have information about one substance (known) and want to predict
another substance (unknown), you can use a balanced chemical equation to
relate them. (C’est stoichiometry!)

1. How many mol of water can be produced from 3.00 mol of oxygen?
2. How many grams of water can be produced from 12.5 mol of hydrogen?
3. How many molecules of H2O will be produced by reacting 25.0 g of O2 with H2?

Link
mass of A  moles of A moles of B  mass of B
"how much" "how many" "how many" "how much"

Steps in a Stoichiometry Problem:


 write correct formulas and equation
 balance equation
 find # of moles of a given substance
 convert moles of substance given (known) to moles of substance asked for
(unknown) using the stoichiometric link
 convert moles of substance asked for to units desired.

4. How many grams of oxygen will be produced by heating 1.65 g of KClO3?


5. If 14.5 g of zinc atoms reacts with hydrochloric acid, how many hydrogen gas
molecules will be produced?
6. If 5.78 g of aqueous sodium chloride reacts with lead (II) nitrate, how many grams of
lead (II) chloride precipitate will form?
7. If we burn 10.0 g of butane (C4H10), how many grams of carbon dioxide will be
formed?
8. If a full tank of gasoline contains 40.0 Kg of octane (C8H18), how many molecules of
carbon dioxide will be produced by burning the whole tank?

Chemistry Raleigh Charter High School Dr. Genez

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