STOICHIOMETRY

Stoichiometry

• Stoichiometry is the quantitative

relationship between reactants
and products in a chemical
reaction. It refers to chemically
equivalent quantities, as
determined either from the
formula of a compound or from a
balanced chemical equation.
Stoichiometry
• A chemical equation defines that
relationship in terms of moles, but
problems are seldom formulated in
moles. Typically, you are given an
amount of one substance in grams and
are asked to calculate how many grams
of another substance can be made from
it.
Steps:
1. Write a balanced equation for the reaction.
2. Determine the molar masses of the substance
involved in the calculation.
3. Write down the quantity that is given and use
the molar mass to convert that quantity to
moles.
4. Use the balanced equation to convert moles of
given substance to moles of desired substance.
5. Use the molar mass to convert moles of desired
substance to grams of desired substance
Example:
Calculate the mass of oxygen needed to react
with 10.0 g of carbon in the reaction that forms
carbon dioxide.
Solution:
1. The balanced equation is C + O₂ → CO₂
2. The molar masses are:
O = 16.00(2) = 32.00 g/mol
C = 1(12.00) = 12.00 g/mol
Example:
3. 10.0 g C x (1 mol C / 12.00 g C)
= 0.833 mol C
4. From the equation, 1 mol C = 1 mol O₂
0.833 mol C x (1 mol O₂ / 1 mol C)
= 0.833 mol O₂
0.833 mol O₂ x (32.00 g O₂ / 1 mol O₂)
= 26.67 g O₂ Ans.
Converting grams to moles
Stoichiometry is used in converting from grams to moles using molar mass as
the conversion factor, or from grams to milliliters using density.

Example:
Find the amount of NaCl (sodium chloride) in
2.00 g NaCl.
Solution:
Molar Proportion
Stoichiometry is often used to balance
chemical equations (reaction
stoichiometry).

Example:
Two diatomic gases, hydrogen and oxygen, can
combine to form a liquid, water, in an 
exothermic reaction, as described by the following
equation:
2 H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O
Molar Proportion
2 H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O

Reaction stoichiometry describes the 2:1:2

ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and water
molecules in the above equation.
The molar ratio allows for conversion
between moles of one substance and moles
of another.
Example:

In the reaction,
2 CH₃OH + 3O₂ → 2CO₂ + 4H₂O
the amount of water that will be produced by
the combustion of 0.27 moles of CH₃OH
is obtained using the molar ratio
between CH₃OH and H₂O of 2 to 4.
Molar Proportion
The term stoichiometry is also often used for
the molar proportions of elements in
stoichiometric compounds (composition
stoichiometry). For example, the
stoichiometry of hydrogen and oxygen in H2O
is 2:1. In stoichiometric compounds, the
molar proportions are whole numbers.
Determining amount of product

Stoichiometry can also be used to find the

quantity of a product yielded by a reaction.
Example:
If a piece of solid copper (Cu) were added to an
aqueous solution of silver nitrate (AgNO3), the 
silver (Ag) would be replaced in a 
single displacement reaction forming aqueous 
copper(II) nitrate (Cu(NO3)2) and solid silver. How
much silver is produced if 16.00 grams of Cu is
added to the solution of excess silver nitrate?
Ex. If a piece of solid copper (Cu) were added to an
aqueous solution of silver nitrate (AgNO3), the silver
 (Ag) would be replaced in a 
single displacement reaction forming aqueous 
copper(II) nitrate (Cu(NO3)2) and solid silver. How
much silver is produced if 16.00 grams of Cu is
added to the solution of excess silver nitrate?
The complete balanced equation would be:
Cu + 2 AgNO₃ → Cu(NO₃)₂ + 2Ag
For the mass to mole step, the mass of copper (16.00 g) would be converted to moles of copper by dividing the mass of copper by its molecular mass: 63.55 g/mol.
Now that the amount of Cu in moles
(0.2518) is found, we can set up the
mole ratio. This is found by looking at
the coefficients in the balanced
equation: Cu and Ag are in a 1:2 ratio.
Now that the moles of Ag
produced is known to be
0.5036 mol, we convert this
amount to grams of Ag produced
to come to the final answer:
This set of calculations can be
further condensed into a single step:
Another Example:
For propane (C3H8) reacting with 
oxygen gas (O2), the balanced
chemical equation is:
The mass of water formed if
120 g of propane (C3H8) is burned
in excess oxygen is then
Practice Exercises:
1. Convert 18 g of water to moles of water.
2. If you have 34.5 g of NaCl, how many moles of
NaCl do you have?
3. How many moles of ammonia can be
produced from 8.00 moles of hydrogen
reacting with nitrogen?
4. What mass of hydrogen can be produced by
reacting 6.0 moles of aluminum with
hydrochloric acid? Use the balanced equation:
• 2Al + 6 HCl → 2AlCl₃ + 3H₂
Assignment:
1. Aluminum will react with sulfuric acid in the following reaction.
2Al + 3H₂SO₄ → Al₂(SO₄)₃ + 3H₂
a. How many moles of H₂SO₄ will react with 18 mol of Al?
b. How many moles of each product will be produced?

2. Phosphorus burns in air to produce a phosphorus oxide in the

following reaction:
4P + 5 O₂ → P₄O₁₀
a. What mass of phosphorus will be needed to produce 3.25 mol
of P₄O₁₀?
b. If 0.489 mol of phosphorus burns, what mass of oxygen is used?
What mass of P ₄O₁₀ is produced?
Assignment:
3. Calculate the mass of silver bromide
produced from 22.5 g of silver nitrate in the
following reaction:
2AgNO₃ + MgBr₂ → 2AgBr + Mg(NO₃)₂
 Limiting Reagent and Percent Yield

The limiting reagent is the reagent that limits

the amount of product that can be formed
and is completely consumed when the
reaction is complete.
An excess reactant is a reactant that is left
over once the reaction has stopped due to
the limiting reactant being exhausted.
Example:
Consider the equation of roasting 
lead(II) sulfide (PbS) in oxygen (O2) to
produce lead(II) oxide (PbO) and 
sulfur dioxide (SO2):

2 PbS + 3 O₂ → 2PbO + 2 SO₂

To determine the theoretical yield of lead(II)
oxide if 200.0 g of lead(II) sulfide and 200.0 g
of oxygen are heated in an open container:
Because a lesser amount of PbO is
produced for the 200.0 g of PbS, it is
clear that PbS is the limiting reagent.
In reality, the actual yield is not the
same as the stoichiometrically-
calculated theoretical yield. Percent
yield, then, is expressed in the
following equation:
If 170.0 g of lead(II) oxide is obtained, then
the percent yield would be calculated as
follows:
Another Example:
Consider the following reaction, in
which iron(III) chloride reacts with 
hydrogen sulfide to produce 
iron(III) sulfide and 
hydrogen chloride:

2 FeCl₃ + 3H₂S → Fe₂S₃ + 6 HCl

Suppose 90.0 g of FeCl3 reacts with
52.0 g of H2S. To find the limiting reagent
and the mass of HCl produced by the
reaction, we could set up the following
equations:
Thus, the limiting reagent is FeCl3 and
the amount of HCl produced is 60.8 g.
To find what mass of excess reagent
(H2S) remains after the reaction, we
would set up the calculation to find out
how much H2S reacts completely with
the 90.0 g FeCl3:
By subtracting this amount from the
original amount of H2S, we can come
to the answer:

52.0 g H₂S – 28.4 g H₂S = 23.6 g H₂S

excess
Percent Composition

The percent composition of a component in a

compound is the percent of the total mass of the
compound that is due to that component.
To calculate the percent composition of a component in
a compound:
1. Find the molar mass of the compound by adding
up the masses of each atom in a compound using
the periodic table or a molecular mass calculator.
2. Calculate the mass due to the component in the
compound you are for which you are solving by adding
up the masses of these atoms.
Percent Composition

3. Divide the mass due to the component by

the total molar mass of the compound and
multiply by 100
Example:
1.Calculate the percent composition of
carbon in each of the following:
a. CO₂
Molar mass of compound: 12.01 + 2(16.00) = 44.01 g/mol

Carbon oxygen CO₂

Mass due to carbon: 12.01 g/mol
Percent composition of carbon:
12.01 g/mol x 100 = 27.29%
44.01 g/mol
b. C₆H₁₂O₆

Molar mass of compound:

6(12.01) + 12(1.01) + 6(16.00) = 180.18g/mol
Carbon hydrogen oxygen C₆H₁₂O₆

Mass due to carbon: 6(12.01) = 72.06 g/mol

Percent composition of carbon:

72.06 g/mol x 100 = 39.99%
180.18 g/mol
Empirical Formula Versus Molecular Formula

The empirical formula or simplest formula, gives the

smallest whole-number ratio of the atoms that are
present in a compound. This formula gives the
relative number of atoms of each element in the
compound.
The molecular formula is the true formula,
representing the total number of atoms of each
element present in one molecule of a compound. It
is entirely possible that two or more substances will
have the same percentage composition, yet be
distinctly different compounds.
Calculation of Empirical Formula
Step 1. Find the number of moles of each
element in a sample of the molecule.
Our molecule contains 40.00% carbon, 6.72%
hydrogen and 53.28% oxygen. This means a 100 g
sample contains:
40.00 grams of carbon (40.00% of 100 grams)
6.72 grams of hydrogen (6.72% of 100 grams)
53.28 grams of oxygen (53.28% of 100 grams)
Note: 100 grams is used for a sample size just to make
the math easier. Any sample size could be used, the
ratios between the elements will remain the same.
Using these numbers, we can find the
number of moles of each element in the 100-
gram sample. Divide the number of grams of
each element in the sample by the atomic
weight of the element to find the number of
moles.
moles C = 40.00 g x 1 mol C/12.01 g/mol C = 3.33
moles C
moles H = 6.72 g x 1 mol H/1.01 g/mol H = 6.65 moles
H
moles O = 53.28 g x 1 mol O/16.00 g/mol O = 3.33
moles O
Step 2: Find the ratios between the number of moles of each element.

Select the element with the largest number of moles in

the sample. In this case, the 6.65 moles of hydrogen is
the largest. Divide the number of moles of each
element by the largest number.
Simplest mole ratio between C and H: 3.33 mol C/6.65
mol H = 1 mol C/2 mol H
The ratio is 1 mole C for every 2 moles H
The simplest ratio between O and H: 3.33 moles
O/6.65 moles H = 1 mol O/2 mol H
The ratio between O and H is 1 mole O for every 2
moles of H
Step 3: Find the empirical formula.

We have all the information we need to write

the empirical formula. For every two moles of
hydrogen, there is one mole of carbon and
one mole of oxygen.
The empirical formula is CH2O.
Step 4: Find the molecular weight of the empirical formula.

We can use the empirical formula to find the molecular

formula using the molecular weight of the compound
and the molecular weight of the empirical formula.
The empirical formula is CH2O. The molecular weight is
molecular weight of CH2O = (1 x 12.01 g/mol) +
(2 x 1.01 g/mol) + (1 x 16.00 g/mol)
molecular weight of CH2O = (12.01 + 2.02 +
16.00) g/mol
molecular weight of CH2O = 30.03 g/mol
Step 5: Find the number of empirical formula units in the
molecular formula.

The molecular formula is a multiple of the empirical

formula. We were given the molecular weight of the
molecule, 180.18 g/mol. Divide this number by the
molecular weight of the empirical formula to find the
number of empirical formula units that make up the
compound.
Number of empirical formula units in compound
= 180.18 g/mol/30.03 g/mol
Number of empirical formula units in compound
=6
 Step 6: Find the molecular formula.

It takes six empirical formula units to make the

compound, so multiply each number in the
empirical formula by 6.
molecular formula = 6 x CH2O
molecular formula = C(1 x 6)H(2 x 6)O(1 x 6)
molecular formula = C6H12O6
Solution:
The empirical formula of the molecule is CH2O.
The molecular formula of the compound is C6H12O6.
Exercises:
I. Find the formula mass of the following
compounds. Round your answer to two
decimal places. Write your answer in the
formula mass column. Show your
computations on another sheet.
Compounds Formula Mass
AgNO₂
NiSO₃
Ca₃(PO₄)₂
HgSO₄
Fe(NO₃)₃
II. Solve the following problems:
1. How many moles of Fe₃O₄ can be obtained
by reacting 16.8 g Fe with 10.0 g H₂O?
Which substance is the limiting reactant?
Which substance is in excess?
Eq. 3Fe + 4H₂O → Fe₃O₄ + 4H₂
2. 3 g of aluminum are reacted with 4 g of
copper (II) sulfate to produce aluminum
sulfate and the metal copper.
a. Which is the limiting reactant?
b. How many grams of copper are formed?
Eq. 2 Al + 3CuSO₄ → Al₂(SO₄)₃ + 3Cu
III. Find the percent compositions of
all of the elements in the following
compounds: Show your solutions.
1. CuBr₂ 
2. NaOH 
3. (NH₄)₂S