DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCES

CHEM0615 – PRELIMINARY CHEMISTRY I

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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 REVIEW OF BASIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
Chemistry
• The scientific study of matter, its properties and interactions with other matter and with
energy

Matter
• Anything that has mass and occupies space

Elements
• Pure substances which cannot be split into simpler substances by any chemical process

• Composed of only one type of atom

• Building blocks for more complex substances

Examples:

Compounds
• Pure substances containing two or more different types of elements bonded together
chemically in fixed proportions

• Represented by chemical formulae

Examples:

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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 Mixtures

• Consists of two or more substances (elements and/or compounds) combined together in

varying proportions

• Can be separated by physical means

Examples:

Table 1: The two types of mixtures:

Homogeneous Mixtures Heterogeneous Mixtures

(Uniform) (Nonuniform)

1) 1)

2) 2)

E.g. E.g.

The Law of Definite Composition

• A compound always contains two or more elements combined in a definite proportion by

mass
Examples:

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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 THE MOLE CONCEPT
The Mole

• A chemical unit

• The amount of a substance that contains the same number of particles as there are in
12.00g of carbon-12

• The Avogadro’s number/constant of particles:___________________________

Molar Mass (M)

• The relative atomic, molecular or formula mass expressed in grams per mole

The Relative Atomic Mass (ram)(Ar)

• RAM = Mass of one atom of the element

(1⁄12) Mass of one atom of carbon-12

• Masses are found in the periodic table

Examples:

The Relative Molecular Mass (rmm)(Mr)

• This term is preferred for when dealing with molecules

• RMM = Mass of one molecule of the compound

(1⁄12) Mass of one atom of carbon-12

• To determine the mass of one molecule, the sum of all the atomic masses is calculated
Examples:

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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The Relative Formula Mass (rfm)

• This term is preferred for ions

• rfm = Mass of one formula unit

1
( ⁄12) Mass of one atom of carbon-12

• Example: rfm of sodium chloride (NaCl)

Calculations Involving Moles, Mass and Molar Mass

Calculations can be done via two ways:

• Unitary method
• Formula

Formula:

Moles (mol) = Mass (g)

Molar Mass (g mol-1)

Examples:

1) How many moles of sodium carbonate are there in 132 g? (mass Æ moles)

2) How many grams does 0.250 moles of sodium carbonate weigh? (moles Æ mass)

3) 0.250 moles of a compound weigh 11 g. What is the rmm of the compound? (moles &
mass Æ RMM)

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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Percentage Composition

• The percentage by mass of each element present in the compound.

• % of element A in a compound:

RAM (A) x No. of atoms of A in the formula x 100%

RMM of the compound

Example:

4) Calculate the percentage of magnesium, sulphur and oxygen in MgSO4.

CHEMICAL FORMULAE
 

• A chemical formula shows how many moles of each element combine to form one mole
of compound
Example:

Empirical formula

o The simplest mole ratio of each element present in the compound

Molecular formula

o The actual number of moles of each element present in one mole of the molecular
substance

In a molecule AnBn:

n x empirical formula mass = molecular mass

Both empirical and molecular formulae of compounds can be determined experimentally, by

finding the masses of each element in a given mass of the compound.

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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Calculations:
5) Find the empirical formula of a compound containing 80% C and 20% H. Determine
its molecular formula if its molecular mass is 30.

6) On analysis, a compound was found to contain 55.19% K, 14.62% P and 30.19% O.

Determine the empirical formula of this compound.

7) An unknown compound was analysed and found to contain 7.04 g of phosphorus and
5.46 g of sulphur. What is the empirical formula of the compound?

CHEMICAL EQUATIONS
• A shorthand representation of a chemical reaction

• Equations give us both qualitative and quantitative information

Reactants

• The starting material in a chemical reaction

Products

• Formed at the end of the reaction

State symbols

• Tells us the physical state of the reactants and products

General equation

• Reactants → Products

Examples:

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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Law of Conservation of Matter

• Matter can be neither created nor destroyed during a chemical reaction

In any chemical reaction, the total mass of the products must be equal to the total mass of the
reactants. Equations must be balanced to obey the Law of Conservation.

Balancing an equation:

• Adjust the coefficients that precede the formulas of the reactants and products so that
there is the same number of atoms of each kind on both sides of the arrow.

N.B. Never balance an equation by changing the subscripts in the chemical formula

Applications of the Mole Concept & Balanced Equations:

The coefficients in a chemical reaction provide us with the ratios by which moles of one
substance reacts with or forms moles of another.

Example: 2H2 (g) + O2 (g) → 2H2O (l)

Calculation Involving Moles:

8) Consider the following balanced equation:

C2H5OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 3H2O

a) How many moles of oxygen are needed to burn 3.50 moles of C2H5OH?
b) How many moles of CO2 will be formed when 0.65 mol of C2H5OH is burned?

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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Calculation Involving Mass:

9) Consider the following balanced equation:

4Al + 3O2 → 2Al2O3

a. How many grams of oxygen are required to react with 0.300 mole of Al?
b. What mass of Al2O3 is produced when 12.5 g of O2 is used?

LIMITING REACTANT / REAGENT

• In a chemical reaction, the limiting reactant is the species supplied in an amount smaller
than that required by the stoichiometric relationship between the reactants.

Calculations:

10) Iron (5.00 g) and sulphur (5.00 g) are heated together to form iron (II) sulphide.

Fe (s) + S (s) → FeS (s)

a) Which is the limiting reactant?

b) What mass of product is formed?

11) Zinc and sulphur react together to form zinc sulphide.

Zn (s) + S (s) → ZnS (s)

In a particular experiment 12.0 g of Zn are mixed with 6.50 g of S and allowed to

react.

(a) What is the limiting reactant?

(b) How many grams of ZnS will be produced?
(c) How many grams of what reactant will remain unreacted in this experiment?

12) Ethene burns in air to form CO2 and H2O according to the equation

C2H4 + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 2H2O

How many grams of CO2 will be formed when a mixture containing 1.93 g of C2H4
and 5.9 g of O2 is ignited?

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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YIELD

Theoretical Yield

• The maximum amount of product that can be obtained from a given mass of reactant

Experimental/Actual Yield

• The amount of product obtained from the reaction

Percentage Yield

• Tells us about the efficiency of the reaction

• Refers to the fraction of the theoretical yield actually obtained
• Expressed as a percentage

Percentage Yield = Experimental Yield x 100%

Theoretical Yield

Calculation:

13) Consider the following reaction:

CH3CO2H (l) + C2H5OH (l) → CH3CO2C2H5 (l) + H2O (l)

CH3CO2C2H5 (36 g) was obtained from the esterification of C2H5OH (23 g) and
CH3CO2H in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid. What is the percentage yield
of the reaction?

REACTIONS IN SOLUTION

Molarity

• Connection between moles and volume

• Tells us about the amount of substance (mol) in a given volume of solution
• Tells us the number of moles in 1 L, 1 dm3 or 1000 cm3 of solution
• Unit: moldm-3

Molarity = Moles of solute (mol)

Volume of solution (1000 cm3 or 1 dm3)

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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Calculations:

14) Sodium hydroxide (2 g) was dissolved in water to give a volume of exactly 200 cm3.
What is the molarity of the NaOH solution?

15) What volume of 0.250 M NaOH is needed to provide 0.0200 mol of NaOH?

16) What mass of NaOH is in 50.0 cm3 of 0.400 M NaOH solution?

Combining Molarity & Chemical Equations

17) Aluminium hydroxide, one of the antacids ingredients in Maalox can be prepared by
reacting aluminium sulphate with sodium hydroxide

Al2(SO4)3 + 6NaOH → 2Al(OH)3 + 3Na2SO4

What volume of 0.200 M NaOH is needed to completely react with 3.50 g of Al2(SO4)3?

MOLES, EQUATIONS AND STOICHIOMETRY – CST‐ROGERS / 2010 ‐2011                                                                                          
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