INDANG NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL—SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

LEARNER’S PACKET IN

GENERAL
CHEMISTRY 1
(WEEK 4)

Prepared by:
Daryl Vince D. Romerosa
Special Science Teacher

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 LESSON Writing and Balancing
Chemical Equations
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What I need to KNOW?

 How to write and balance chemical equations properly

and correctly.

After going through this lesson, you are expected to:

1. write and balance chemical equations, (STEM_GC11CRlf-g-37).

Introduction
The water we drink every day, the sugar found in bread, the carbon dioxide
gas produce from burning a piece of paper are examples of compounds which are
being produced as the result of chemical reactions. These chemical reactions can
be easily analyzed if they are written through chemical equations. Knowing the
process of expressing chemical reactions through chemical equations will give us
full understanding on how elements or compounds combined or broken down to
form new substances.
This module will discuss the process of expressing the chemical reactions
through words equations and balanced chemical equations properly and correctly.

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What’s In?
Equation Analysis. Analyze the equation below then answer
the corresponding guide questions.

Guide Questions
1. What is the equation all about?
2. What are the substances involved in the equation?

What’s New?
IMPORTANT VOCABULARY WORDS
Read the description of important terms that you will encounter
in this module.
VOCABULARY WORD MEANING
1. Reactants Substances involved before a chemical reaction
2. Product Substance produced after a chemical reaction.

What is it?
Chemical Reaction, Word Equation and Chemical Equation
Chemical Reaction is a process in which one or more
substances are changed into new substance with different
physical and chemical properties. While Chemical Equation is the
shorthand for describing the course of chemical reaction wherein
the reactants are always written before the reaction or on the
right side of the equation while the product is on the left side of
the equation. A Word Equation describes a chemical change
using the names of the reactants and products.

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How to Write and Balance a Chemical Equation?
In writing and balancing the chemical equations, important symbols must
be remembered. Below are the common symbols used in writing and balancing
chemical equations.

Beside from the different symbols to be used in writing and balancing the
chemical equations, there are special names of compounds that must be
considered as well as whether a compound is diatomic. Below are the common
names of some compounds.

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Important Steps in Solving the Formula Mass of a Compound

In writing and balancing the chemical equations, do the following steps

below. We will use the sample problem as an example.

Nitrogen gas reacts to Hydrogen gas to produce Ammonia.

Note that there is subscript written after the chemical symbol of Nitrogen
at the reactant side of the equation is 2 while the hydrogen is 2 as well. This is
because both nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas are diatomic substance. Carbon,
hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and other elements are diatomic substance. At the
product side, the chemical formula of ammonia is NH3.

To explain how we came up with this balanced equation, let us refer to

chemical equation in step 2. Let us determine the number of atoms of each
element in the reactant side and in the product side. Look at the diagram below
showing the subscript written after the chemical symbols and chemical formula
in the chemical equation.

As you can see, the number of nitrogen atom in the reactant side is 2
while in the product side is 1 as shown by their subscript. For the hydrogen
atoms, there are two atoms at the reactant side and 3 atoms for the product
side. So, to balance the number of atoms at the reactant side and product side,
coefficient is added before the chemical symbol or the chemical formula as
indicated inside the parenthesis.

ASSESSMENT: Answer “Activity #2” on your Supplementary

Material. Write your answers on the provided spaces.

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 LESSON Mass Relationships in Chemical
Reactions
2
What I need to KNOW?

 Determining the Amount of Reactant and Product in a

Chemical Reaction.
 Limiting and Excess Reagent
 Calculating Theoretical Yield and Percent Yield in a
Reaction
After going through this lesson, you are expected to:
1. Construct mole or mass ratios for a reaction in order to calculate the amount of
reactant needed or amount of product formed in terms of moles or mass.
(STEM_GC11MRIg-h-38);
2. Determine mass relationship in a chemical reaction (STEM_GC11MRIg-h-42).
3. Explain the concept of limiting reagent in a chemical reaction; identify the excess
reagent(s) (STEM_GC11MRIg-h-40);
4. Calculate percent yield and theoretical yield of the (STEM_GC11MRIg-h-39);

Introduction
Chemical reactions are apparent in the things around us or in our daily
activities. The quantitative relationship of reactants and products in a chemical
reaction is manifested for example, when we bake a cake or bread, or cook a dish.
We make sure that all the ingredients are present and in correct proportions based
from a recipe to make the desired end-product. Same concept applies to chemical
reactions. After learning how to balance a chemical equation in module 3, this
module will help you understand the mass relationships of reactants and products
in a chemical reaction.

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What’s In?
You have learned from the previous lesson that numerical
coefficients are written before a chemical formula in the
reactants or products side in order to balance a chemical
equation. This numerical coefficient in a balanced chemical
equation will be used to determine how much of the reactants
are needed to produce a certain amount of product or how much product is
produced given a certain amount of reactant. This lesson will introduce you to
the concept of mass to mole or mole to mole ratio to determine the amount of
reactants and products in a chemical reaction.

What’s New?
Fish ball anyone?
Directions: Let us use the given example previously to understand
the concept of determining the amount of reactants and products in
a chemical reaction by answering the questions below. Susan is
selling fish balls in a stick for 10 pesos per stick. Each stick has 5
fish balls.
1. Write the equation of fish balls, bamboo stick and fish balls in a stick.
_______________+_____________________->________________________
2. If Susan has 100 fish balls, how many bamboo sticks will she need to
consume all the fish balls?
3. If Susan wants to make 50 fish balls in a stick, how many fish balls will she
need?

What is it?
Stoichiometry
One of the requirements of a balanced chemical equation is
that it follows the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that
matter is neither created nor destroyed. The identity and quantity
of the elements in the reactants side, though they can change in
pairing or arrangement, must be equal to the identity and
quantity of elements in the products side. To do this, all elements
in the left side of the equation must be reflected, and of the same
number in the right side of the equation. A stoichiometric coefficient is then added
before each element, ion or molecule to make the number of each element in the
left side equal to the number of the same element in the right side of the
equation. This stoichiometric coefficient denoted by a number, can be interpreted
as the number of moles of each substance. The mole method approach makes
stoichiometry (the quantitative relationship between reactants and products in a
chemical reaction) more understandable. Let’s take for example the formation of
table salt or NaCl:

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 2Na(s) + 2HCl(aq) → 2NaCl(aq) + H2(g)
The stoichiometric coefficients in the equation denotes that 2 elemental
sodium (Na) react with 2 molecules of hydrochloric acid (HCl) to form 2
molecules of sodium chloride (NaCl) and 2 molecules of hydrogen (H2) gas.
Following the mole method approach, the equation can be interpreted and read
as 2 moles of Na react with 2 moles of HCl to form 2 moles of NaCl and 1 mole
of H2. Since the equation is balanced, the stoichiometric coefficient for the
reactants and products can be used in a ratio or mole-mole factor:

2 ≅2
The symbol ≅ means “equivalent to”. Hence, we can make the following
mole-mole factor:

Let’s consider a simple example. Ammonia, NH3, is a leading industrial

chemical used in the production of agricultural fertilizers and synthetic fibers. It
is produced by the reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen gases.
3 2( )+ 2( )→2 3( )
As shown in the balanced equation, 3 moles of H2 are stoichiometrically
equivalent to 1 mole N2 and to 2 moles NH3. The ratio of moles H2 to moles
NH3 in 3:2; the ratio of moles N2 to moles NH3 is 1:2. Using this ratio, we will
be able to calculate the quantities of the product or reactant like the example
below:
a. How many moles of H2 are needed to produce 26.5 moles of NH3?
Solution:

b. How many moles of NH3 will be produced if 33.7 moles of N2 reacts com-
pletely with H2?
Solution:

Note: In using the mole-mole factor or ratio, the arrangement of the numerator
and denominator is done in a way that there is a cancellation of similar units
found in the numerator and denominator. In first example above, moles of NH3
were cancelled while in the second example, moles of N2 were cancelled.
The stoichiometric coefficients of the reactants and products can be used
readily to determine the mole-mole ratio of the substances involved. However, in
laboratory setups, the mass (in grams) of the substance are given or needed
instead of moles for easy measurement. In this type of problem, there is a need
to convert the mass into number of moles using the molar mass of the
substance. Below are the steps used to convert grams to moles or vice versa:

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 The molar mass of the substance is used as a conversion factor to
calculate the number of moles of the substance given its mass and vice versa.
The three steps can be combined into a single step as follows:

In every conversion, like the steps shown above, similar units found in the
numerator and denominator are cancelled out. Let’s have another example:
Solid lithium hydroxide is used to remove carbon dioxide and is called a CO2
scrubber. The reaction is:

How many grams of CO2 can be absorbed by 236.1 g LiOH?

Solution:

Note: Since the given value (236.1g) has 4 significant figures, the answer will
also have 4 significant figures.

Limiting and Excess Reagent

When a chemical reaction is carried out in a flask, the amount of reactants
are not always present in the exact proportion stoichiometrically determined
from the balanced equation. To make sure that all of the more expensive
reagent is completely used up and converted to the desired product, chemists
usually add the cheaper reagent in excess quantity. The reagent that has
completely reacted and used up in a reaction is called the limiting reagent. The
excess reagent is the reactant that is present in quantity higher than what is
required to react with the limiting reagent. For instance, you are preparing a ball
dance for your 18th birthday consisting of pairs of male and female. Upon
checking your list of friends, you found out that you have 18 male friends and 25
female friends. The number of male friends will limit the number of pairs to 18.
All the males will have a partner while there will be 7 females who will not have
a partner for the dance.

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Let’s use that context to the balanced chemical equation below:
3 2( )+ 2( )→2 3( )
Ammonia, NH3, is synthesized from the reaction of H2 and N2 gases.
Suppose 6 moles of H2 was initially mixed with 4 moles of N2 gas at high
pressure. To determine which of the 2 reactants is the limiting reagent, the
amount of NH3 produced must be computed given the number of moles of H2
and N2 and the mole-mole factor from the balanced equation.

From the computed values we determined that if 6 moles of H2 completely

reacts with N2, it can produce 4 moles of NH3 while 4 moles of N2 can produce 8
moles of NH3 when fully used up. Since there is less amount of NH3 produced
with 6 moles of H2 than 4 moles of N2, H2 gas is the limiting reagent while the
N2 gas is the reagent in excess. To determine how much of the 4 moles of N2 is
in excess, we will use the mole-mole factor of N2 and H2.

The number of moles of N2 required to fully react to 6 moles of H2 is only

2 moles. Thus, the initial 6 moles of N2 has an excess of 4 moles.

Let’s have another example. The combustion of ethane produces carbon

dioxide and water shown in the reaction below:

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Note: If the amount of the initial reactant is expressed in grams (mass) instead
of moles, the number of moles must first be converted into grams using the
molar mass of the reactant as you have learned in the previous lessons. In the
same manner, if the problem asks to determine the mass (in grams) of the
product produced by the reaction, the number of moles of the product must be
converted into grams using the molar mass of the product.

ASSESSMENT: Answer “Activity #3” on your Supplementary

Material. Write your answers on the provided spaces.

Yield of the Reaction

Chemical reaction is a process in which substance/s interact chemically to
produce a new substance/s with different compositions. It is represented by a
chemical equation. Substance/s at the left side of the equation is/are called the
reactant/s while the substance/s located at the right side of the equation is/are
called the product/s. Chemical properties of the element or compound as
reactant/s dictate the process in which an element or compound undergoes
changes during the reaction.
Evaluation of the percent yield is important to measure the success of a
chemical reaction. Percent yield is the ratio of the actual yield to the theoretical
yield expressed as a percentage. So, how are you going to compute for the
percent yield of a chemical reaction? You have to know the values of the
theoretical yield and the actual yield of the reaction. Following the formula of:

Theoretical yield is the amount of product that is expected to form based

on stoichiometry. It is the maximum amount of product produced from the given
amount/s of reactant/s. It is calculated based on the stoichiometry of the
chemical reaction. While the actual yield is the amount of product produced
during the reaction. It is the amount of product obtained after the actual
reaction and it is normally lesser than the theoretical yield. It is determined
experimentally.

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 These are the steps in calculating the percent yield of a
chemical reaction:
1. Balance the given chemical equation
2. Identify the limiting reactant and the excess reactant
3. Compute for the theoretical yield of the reaction
4. Calculate the percent yield
You can continue solving when asked:
a. Percent error
b. Amount of excess reactant

ASSESSMENT: Answer “Activity #4” on your Supplementary

Material. Write your answers on the provided spaces.

What I have learned?

• The Law of Conservation of Mass provides that the amount of substances formed
(product) in a chemical reaction must be equal to the amount of the initial
materials (reactants).
• The stoichiometric coefficient balances the number of elements present in the left
and right side of the equation.
• This coefficient can be used to determine the mole-mole factor or ratio between
and among substances involved (both product and reactant).
• The mole method approach makes stoichiometric calculation easier by expressing
the known and unknown quantities in moles then convert it to grams using the
molar mass of the substance.
• In some reactions, an excess amount of a less expensive reagent (reagent in
excess) is added to make sure that the more expensive reagent is completely
converted to product.
• The chemical reaction will stop when all the limiting reagent is used up. Most of
the time, the expected amount of product (theoretical yield) is not the same as
the actual amount produced in the reaction (actual yield).
• The efficiency of the conducted reaction is determined by computing the percent
yield which is the ratio of the actual yield and the theoretical yield multiplied by
100. The closer the value of the percent yield to 100, the more efficient is the
reaction.

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 References

• Nacum, Z. T, General Chemistry 1 for Senior High School, C & E

Publishing Inc. 2017.
• Mendoza E. and Religioso T. (2008). Chemistry Laboratory Manual.
Phoenix Publication
• Mendoza E. (2003). Chemistry Textbook. Phoenix Publication
• Chang, Raymond. Chemistry, 10th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Science/Engineering/Math, 2009.
• Commission on Higher Education, General Chemistry 1: Teaching
Guide for Senior High, Manila, 2016.
• Department of Education Central Office, Most Essential Learning
Competencies (MELCS), Manila, 2020.
• "Stoichiometry--Molar Mass, Mole Ratios - Quiz". 2020. Quizizz.Com.
Accessed July 12. https://quizizz.com/admin/
quiz/58b47527b60c1ba227b6927c/stoichiometry-molar-mass-mole-
ratios.
• The Organic Chemistry Tutor. 2015. How To Calculate Theoretical Yield
And Percent Yield. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=jtAj0s203CI.
• The Organic Chemistry Tutor. 2017. Stoichiometry Mole To Mole
Conversions - Molar Ratio Practice Problems. Video. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zmeVamEsWI.
• TheChemistrySolution. 2012. Theoretical, Actual And Percent Yield
Problems - Chemistry Tutorial. Video. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=mmsKDK9WXdE.

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