CHEMISTRY SOME BASIC CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY

Mole Concept
 We know that a dozen is 12 items, a century is 100 items and a gross is 144 items.
 As we use the terms such as dozen, century and gross to express certain quantities of substances, a
mole is a term used to describe a collection of particles, i.e. atoms, molecules or ions.

Definition of Mole
 One mole is the amount of a substance which contains as many particles or entities as there are
atoms in exactly 12 g (or 0.012 kg) of the 12C isotope.
 The mass of one mole of a substance in grams is called its molar mass.

The atomic mass expressed in grams is the gram atomic mass.

The molecular mass expressed in grams is the gram molecular mass.
Example:
 The atomic mass of sodium is 23 g.
Therefore, 23 g of sodium is equal to one mole of sodium atoms.

 Similarly, the molecular mass of oxygen (O2) = 2 × Atomic mass of oxygen

= 2 × 16 = 32 g
So, 32 g of oxygen is equal to one mole of oxygen molecules.

Avogadro experimentally found that one mole of any substance always contained 6.022 × 1023
particles.
This number is called the Avogadro’s constant denoted by NA.
1 mole of a substance is equal to 6.022 × 1023 particles, i.e. atoms, molecules or ions, of the
substance.

1 mole (of anything) = 6.022 × 1023

Example:
How many molecules will be present in 2 g of hydrogen gas (H2)?
1 mole of hydrogen molecules = molecular mass of hydrogen
=2g
We know that 1 mole of hydrogen molecules contains 6.022 × 1023 hydrogen molecules.
 2 g of hydrogen gas will also contain 6.022 × 1023 hydrogen molecules.

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 CHEMISTRY SOME BASIC CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY

Percentage Composition
 The mass percentage of each constituent element present in any compound is called its percentage
composition.
 It can be calculated by using the given formula:

Mass of element in 1 molecule of the compound

Mass % of the element =  100
Molar mass of the compound

Example:

Let us calculate the percentage composition of the various elements in magnesium sulphate (MgSO4).

Molecular formula of magnesium sulphate  MgSO4

Molar mass of magnesium sulphate  (24  32  4  16)
 120 g / mol
24 g
Mass percent of Mg   100  20 %
120 g
32 g
Mass percent of S   100  26.67 %
120 g
64 g
Mass percent of oxygen   100  53.33 %
120 g

Empirical Formula for Molecular Formula

 An empirical formula represents the simplest whole number ratio of various atoms present in a
compound.
 The molecular formula expresses the exact number of different types of atoms present in a molecule
of a compound.

Relation between Empirical Formula and Molecular Formula

 The molecular formula of a compound is a simple whole number multiple of its empirical formula.

Mathematically,

Molecular formula = n × Empirical formula

where n is any integer such as 1, 2, 3,...

When n = 1, Molecular Formula = Empirical Formula

When n = 2, Molecular Formula = 2 × Empirical Formula and so on.

The value of 'n' can be obtained from the relation:

Molecular mass
n
Emperical formula mass

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 CHEMISTRY SOME BASIC CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY

Calculation of the Empirical Formula

The following steps are involved in the calculation of the empirical formula:

Step 1: Conversion of mass percent to grams

Considering 100 g of the compound, the given mass percentages represent the masses of the elements
present in the given compound in grams.

Step 2: Calculate the number of moles of each element

Divide the percentage mass (in grams) of each element by its atomic mass. This gives the number of
moles of the various elements.

Mass of element in grams

Moles of an element 
Atomic mass of the element

The moles of different elements thus calculated represent the relative number of moles.

Step 3: Calculate the simplest molar ratio

Divide the moles obtained in Step 1 by the smallest quotient or the smallest number. This gives the
simplest molar ratio.

If the ratios are not whole numbers, then they may be converted to a whole number by multiplying by the
suitable coefficient.

Step 4: Write the empirical formula

Write the empirical formula by mentioning the numbers after writing the symbols of the respective
elements.
Now, insert the numerical value of the simplest whole number ratio of each element as obtained in Step 3
at the lower right hand corner of each symbol. This gives the empirical formula of the compound.

Step 5: Write the molecular formula

(a) Determine the empirical formula mass. Add the atomic masses of various atoms present in the
empirical formula.
(b) Divide the molar mass by the empirical formula mass.
(c) Multiply the empirical formula by n obtained above to get the molecular formula.

Balancing a Chemical Equation

Balancing of a chemical equation means making the number of atoms of each element equal on both
sides of the equation.

The following methods are generally used for balancing of chemical equations:
(1) Hit and trial method or trial and error method
(2) Partial equation method
(3) Oxidation number method
(4) Ion-electron method

The first two methods are briefly described below:

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 CHEMISTRY SOME BASIC CONCEPTS OF CHEMISTRY

Hit and Trial Method

The simplest method to balance a chemical equation is by the hit and trial method also called the trial and
error method.

The method involves the following steps:

Step 1: Write the correct formulae of the reactants and the products with plus signs in between with an
arrow pointing from the reactants to the products. This is called the skeleton equation.

Step 2: Select the largest formula from the skeleton equation and equalise the number of atoms of each
of its constituent elements on both sides of the chemical equation by suitable multiplications.
Or
Balance the atoms of that element which occurs at the minimum number of places on both sides of the
chemical equation first. Atoms which occur at a maximum number of places are balanced last of all.

Step 3: When an elementary gas (diatomic) such as hydrogen, oxygen, chlorine or nitrogen appears as a
reactant or a product, the equation is balanced more easily by keeping the elementary gas in the atomic
state. The balanced atomic equation is then made molecular by multiplying the whole equation by two.

Step 4: Verify that the number of atoms of each element is balanced in the final equation.

Step 5: The chemical equation can be made more informative by mentioning the physical states of the
reactants and the products. Thus, the gaseous, liquid, aqueous and solid states of the reactants and
products are represented by the notations (g), (l), (aq) and (s), respectively.

Note: Subscripts in the formulae of reactants and products cannot be changed for the sake of
convenience to balance an equation. An integer placed in front of chemical formula multiples every atom
of that formula by that integer. Thus,
2 NH3 is 2 N atoms and 6 H atoms.
3 H2O is 6 H atoms and 3 O atoms.

Partial Equation Method

The hit and trial method is useful only for balancing simple chemical reactions. For a reaction in which the
same element is repeated in several compounds, the partial equation method is more helpful.

The method involves the following steps:

Step 1: The chemical reaction represented by the equation is supposed to proceed in two or more steps.
Step 2: The skeleton equations representing each step are written and then balanced by the hit and trial
method. These equations are known as partial equations.
Step 3: If necessary, the partial equations are multiplied by suitable integers so as to cancel those
intermediate products which do not occur in the final equation.
Step 4: The partial equations are added to get the final balanced equation.

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