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Chemical Equations Matrices W2
Chemical Equations Matrices W2
Chemical Equations Matrices W2
Robert A. Alberty
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
Chemists tend to think that chemical equations are where A is the C x N conservation matrix (formula matrix),
unique to chemistry, and they are not used to thinking of v is the N x R stoichiometric number matrix, and 0 is the
chemical equations as the mathematical equations they C x R zero matrix. C is the number of components; in this
really are. The mathematical aspects ofchemical equations case, C is the number of elements. N is the number of
have been discussed in this Journal in connection with reactants. R is the number of independent reactions.
balancing chemical equations, but the objective of the fol- Equation 5 is important, because it can be applied to a
lowing example is to illustrate the mathematical signifi- system with any number of elements and any number of
cance of the chemical equation. reactants. The A matrix for a system involving many reac-
Consider the following reaction: tants is readily written down. ActuallyA is simply made up
of the coefficients of the conservation equations which
co + 1/20, = co, (1) apply to a system. v is the null space of matrix A. The null