CHM1025

Reaction Stoichiometry
A chemical reaction is the conversion of one substance or set of substances into
another. Chemical reactions describe a chemical change. The substance (or
substances) initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reactants or reagents.
Products are new substances that form during the course of the reaction. Products differ
from reactants only in the arrangement of their component atoms.

Figure 1 -Nanoscale and Symbolic

Reaction

How do we know a chemical reaction occurs?

When we did the concepts of matter module we did an experiment to answer the
question. A chemical reaction is usually accompanied by easily observed changes, such
as the emission of heat and light, the formation of a precipitate, the evolution of gas, or a
color change. Absolute confirmation of a chemical change can only be validated by
chemical analysis of the products! A new substance(s) must have been formed with new
physical properties different from the reagents.

Writing Chemical Equations

A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction.
A chemical equation shows:
the chemical formulas for reactants and products
the physical states of each substance (s, l, g, aq)
ratios of reactants that combine and products that form
special conditions required for the reaction, such as the input of heat or
light.
There is an enormous information written in a chemical equation! You need to discover it.

Each chemical equation should reflect the Law of Conservation of Mass and the Law of
Conservation of Charge. That is both sides of the equation should have the same number
of atoms and the total charge on the reagent side should equal the total charge on the
product side. In order to make sure that both laws apply we need to learn how to balance
a reaction. The number before each compound in the example above is called a
coefficient. Coefficients are used to balance a reaction. The physical state symbols are
(s)= solid, (l)= liquid, (g) =gas and (aq)=aqueous or water solution.
Balancing a Reaction
A General Approach to Balancing Equations:
1. Identify the reactants and products and write their correct formulas.
2. Write a skeletal equation including physical states.
3. Change coefficients one at a time until the atoms of each element are balanced.
(Start with the elements that occur least often in the equation)
4. Make a final check by counting the atoms of each element on both sides of the
equation.
Lets look at a reaction called the thermite reaction. You might want to see a video of an
actual thermite reaction it is very impressive!
Thermite reaction
In the video the magnesium strip was used as a match to get the reaction started.
Molten iron was formed. The Thermite process was developed by Hans Goldschmidt in
1893. It was used to precision weld pieces of railroad track together. Lets start with a
description of the reaction.
1. Identify the reactants and products and write their correct formulas.
A powdered mixture of aluminum metal and iron(III) oxide is heated, it reacts to form
liquid iron and solid aluminum(III) oxide. Convert the words to actual chemical symbols:
2. Write a skeletal equation including physical states.
Aluminum + iron(III) oxide aluminum oxide + iron
Al(s) +
Fe2O3(s)

Al2O3(s)
+ Fe(s)

Notice that as written the mass is not conserved. We must use coefficients to balance the

atoms. You cannot balance a reaction by changing the subscripts!! If you change the
subscripts you will write an incorrect fomula.
3. Change coefficients one at a time until the atoms of each element are
balanced. (Start with the elements that occur least often in the equation)
The aluminum atoms are not balanced so we place a coefficient of 2 in front of the
Al reactant:
2Al(s) + Fe2O3(s) Al2O3(s) + Fe(l)
The iron atoms are not balanced so we place a coefficient of 2 in front of the Fe
product:
2Al(s) + Fe2O3(s) Al2O3(s) + 2Fe(l) The equation is balanced

Lets try a harder equation to balance:

CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) NO2- (aq) + CO2 (g)
1. Start with an element that occurs only once on each side. In this case it
would be carbon. It is already balanced.
CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) NO2- (aq) + CO2 (g)
2. Keep balancing based on that initial balanced element, look at the other
elements in the newly balanced compounds
The nitrogen is also balanced.
The reactant side has six oxygen atoms while the product side has 4 oxygen
atoms. The charges are also not equal on both sides. We can choose to balance the
charge or the oxygens next. Usually we leave oxygen for last if it is in several
compounds. Balancing the charge we get:
CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) 2NO2- (aq) + CO2 (g)
Now we will try to balance the oxygens. If we place a 2 in front of the CO 2 we can
balance the oxygens without changing the charge.
CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) 2NO2- (aq) + 2CO2 (g)
Inspecting the equation we see we have changed the number of carbons and need
to rebalance the carbons.
2CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) 2NO2- (aq) + 2CO2 (g)
Now the charge has increased on the left side, so we go back and balance the
charge on the right
2CO32- (aq) + NO (g) + O2 (g) 4NO2- (aq) + 2CO2 (g)
Finally go back and balance the nitrogens.
2CO32- (aq) + 4NO (g) + O2 (g) 4NO2- (aq) + 2CO2 (g)
4. Make a final check by counting the atoms of each element on both sides of the
equation.
# of atoms (reactants)
# of atoms (products)
C
N
O

2
4
12

C
N
O

2
4
12

Charge

-4

Charge

-4

Skill Builders I:
1. Write the balanced chemical equation for each.
a. Sodium metal and chlorine gas react to form solid sodium chloride.
b. Carbon and oxygen gas react to yield carbon monoxide gas.
c. Carbon and oxygen gas react to yield carbon dioxide gas.
d. Potassium metal and liquid water react to form H2 gas and aqueous potassium and
hydroxide ions.
e. Hydrogen and nitrogen gas react to form ammonia.
f. The liquids, dichlorine heptoxide, Cl 2O7, and H2O combine to give aqueous H3O+ and
ClO4 ions.
g. Hydrogen gas reacts with Fe3O4 yielding iron metal and liquid water.
h. Iron (II) persulfide (FeS2) and oxygen gas yield iron (III) oxide and sulfur dioxide gas.
2. Write equations for the following transformations:
a. Iron reacts with air to form Fe2O3 (a form of rust).
b. Sulfur is burned in air to form gaseous sulfur dioxide.
c. A water solution of sodium chloride is evaporated to dryness.
d. Liquid ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) reacts with O2 gas to produce carbon dioxide gas and
liquid water.
e. Water is electrolyzed to form its constituent elements.
f. A lit match is placed in a mixture of elemental hydrogen and oxygen (to form
what?).
3. Balance the following chemical equations by inspection.
a. Mg (s) + N2 (g) Mg3N2 (s)
b. Bi3+ (aq) + H2S (g) + H2O (l) Bi2S3 (s) + H3O+ (aq)
c. Al (s) + H3O+ (aq) Al 3+ (aq) + H2 (g) + H2O (l)
d. C8H18 (l) + O2 (g) H2O (l) + CO2 (g)
e. HCO3- (aq) + Cu2+ (aq) CuCO3 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)
f. P4O10 + H2O H3PO4
Collection of Printable Worksheets on Balancing reactions
Stoichiometry- Mass Relationships in Chemical Reactions
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that the masses of the reactants must equal the
masses of the products. That is why you had to learn how to balance reactions. Reactions
are basically chemical recipes. The recipe is given by the chemical equation and can be
read at different levels, the nanoscale level or the macroscopic level. Notice the many
ways to interpret the equation describing the production of ammonia.

N2

3H2

2NH3

1 molecule

3 molecules

2 molecules

28.0 amu

3(2.02 amu)

2(17.0 amu)

1 mole

3 moles

2 moles

28.0 g

3(2.02 g)

2(17.0 g)

28.0 g

6.06 g

34.0 g

You will need to make many calculations involving reactions. For example:
How much of each starting material is needed?
How much product is made?
What materials are left over?
These calculations follow conversion methods we have already learned:
g of Amol
A mol B g of B. Where A and B are either reactants or products . A balanced equation
is crucial to the success of problem-solving! Coefficients provide the molar ratios that
relate compound A to compound B.
The steps to solve a reaction stoichiometry problem are:
1. Make sure you have a balanced equation.
2. Calculate molar masses of the compounds you are interested in.
3. Determine the mole-to-mole ratio from the coefficients in the balanced equation.
4. Set-up and solve the problem, watching units to guide the process.
Example 1:
How much Fe will be produced from 152.6 g of carbon monoxide and an excess of iron (III)
oxide?
1. Make sure you have a balanced equation.
Fe2O3(s) + 3 CO(g) 2 Fe(s) + 3 CO2(g)
2. Calculate molar masses of the compounds you are interested in. In this case carbon
monoxide and iron.
Fe2O3(s) + 3 CO(g) 2 Fe(s) + 3 CO2(g)
28.01 g/mol
55.85 g/mol
3. Determine the mole-to-mole ratio from the coefficients in the balanced equation.
Use conversion factors to go from grams of CO to grams of Fe.

Mass
of CO

Mol CO

152.6 g CO x

Given

Mol Fe

Mass
of Fe

1 mol CO 2 mol Fe 55.85 g Fe

x
=202.8 g Fe
28.01 g CO 3 mol CO 1 mol Fe
mol-to-mol ratio from the coefficients

Example 2:
How many grams of CO2 are produced in the combustion of 50.0 g of propane, C 3H8?
1. Make sure you have a balanced equation.
C3H8(g) + 5 O2(g) 3 CO2(g) + 4 H2O(l)
2. Calculate molar masses of the compounds you are interested in.
C3H8(g) + 5 O2(g) 3 CO2(g) + 4 H2O(l)
44.10 g/mol

44.01 g/mol

3. Determine the mole-to-mole ratio from the coefficients in the balanced equation. Using
the flow chart from the problem above we get

50.0 g C 3 H 8 x

1 mol C 3 H 8
3 mol CO 2 44.01 g CO2
x
x
=150 g CO2
44.10 g C3 H 8 1 mol C3 H 8 1mol CO 2

Helpful videos:
Mole Ratio Practice Problems
Limiting Reactions Practice Problems- mole to mole
Limiting Reactions Practice-grams to grams
Skill Builders II:
Moles to Moles
1. How many moles of HF are produced by the reaction of 1.5 x 10 23 H2 molecules in the
following reaction?
H2 + F2 2 HF
2. Hydrazine, N2H4 , and hydrogen peroxide, H2O2 , have been used as rocket propellants.
They react according to the equation
7 H2O2 + N2H4 2 HNO3 + 8 H2O
a) How
b) How
c) How
d) How

many
many
many
many

moles
moles
moles
moles

of
of
of
of

HNO3 are formed from 0.0250 mol N2H4?

H2O2 are required if 1.35 mol H2O are to be produced?
H2O are formed if 1.87 moles HNO3 are produced?
H2O2 are required to react with 0.448 mole N2H4?

3. Consider the balanced or stoichiometric equation:

3 NaN3
Na3N + 4 N2
a) How many moles of N2 are produced by the decomposition of 6.0 moles of NaN 3?
b) How many moles of N2 are produced by the decomposition of 1.2 moles of NaN 3?
c) How many moles of NaN3 are consumed in order to produce 2.0 moles of Na 3N?
d) If 0.50 mole of N2 is produced, how many moles of NaN3 would be consumed?
e) If 1.4 moles of N2 are produced, how many moles of Na3N would also be produced?
4. Consider the balanced or stoichiometric equation:
4 P4 + 5 S 8

4 P4S10

a) How many moles of P4S10 are produced from 2.0 x 10-2 mole S8?
b) If 3.0 moles of S8 react, how many moles of P4 are consumed?
c) If 124.2 moles of P4S10 are produced, how many moles of P 4 and S8 are consumed?
d) If 5.6 x 10-3 mole of P4 react, how many moles of S8 would also be consumed?
5. a) Calculate the number of moles of CO2 produced when 1.5 moles of hexane
molecules, C6H14, burn in air by the reaction
2 C6H14 + 19 O2 12 CO2 + 14 H2O
b) If only 7.5 moles of CO2 were recovered from burning 1.5 moles of hexane, what
would be the percent of theoretical yield for this reaction? What factors might explain the

yield being less than ideal, i.e., less than 100%?

6. Consider the following balanced equation: 4 P 4 + 5 S8 4 P4S10

a.

How many moles of P4S10 are produced when 0.50 mole of S8 reacts according to the above equa

b.How many moles of P4 are required to react with 16.0 g sulfur?

Mass to Moles and Mass to Mass via the Molar Ratio
7.Ammonia burns in oxygen according to the equation
4 NH3 + 3 O2 2 N2 + 6 H2O
a)
b)

Calculate the number of moles of H2O produced in the combustion of 1.00 g of NH 3.

How many grams of O2 are required for the complete reaction of 13.7 moles of NH 3?

8.Small bottles of propane gas are sold in hardware stores for convenient, portable heat sources. The
C3H8 + 5 O2 3 CO2 + 4 H2O
a)
b)
9.a)

What mass of CO2 is produced from the combustion of 1.55 moles of C 3H8?
How many moles of water accompany the production of 4.40 g of CO 2?

How many moles of gallium chloride are formed by the reaction of 1.5 moles of HCl according to
the following equation:
2 Ga + 6 HCl 2 GaCl3 + 3 H2

b)

What mass of GaCl3, in grams, is produced?

10. Given the reaction

3 Fe (s) + 4 H2O (g) Fe3O4 (s) + 4 H2 (g)
a)
b)
c)
d)
10.

How many moles of H2 (g) can be produced from 64.4 g Fe and an excess of H 2O(g)?
What mass of H2O, in grams, is consumed in the conversion of 76.3 g Fe to Fe 3O4?
If 9.02 moles of H2 (g) are produced, what mass of Fe 3O4, in grams, must be produced?
What mass of Fe must be consumed if 27.7 g H 2 are produced?
a)Calculate the mass of hydrogen formed when 25.0 g of the active metal aluminum reacts
with excess HCl by the following equation:
2 Al + 6 HCl Al2Cl6 + 3 H2

b)

What mass of Al must be allowed to react with excess HCl to produce 1.00 x 10 24 molecules of H

Theoretical and Percent Yield

When we determine the amount of a product using stoichiometric calculations, we are
calculating a theoretical yield for the reaction. Theoretical yield is the maximum
amount of product that can be obtained from given amounts of reactants. Unfortunately,
due to experimental issues and human errors, you will usually get less than you expect.
Percent yield describes how much of a product is actually formed in comparison to how
much should have been formed. Actual yield is the amount of product we measure in
the laboratory.

It is usually less than the theoretical yield. In order to calculate the percent yield use this
formula

Percent Yield=

Actual yield
x 100
theoretical yield

Example 1:
You used 20.0 grams of LiOH in the following reaction:
LiOH + KCl LiCl + KOH
What is the theoretical yield of lithium chloride? Only 6.00 grams of lithium chloride were
produced. What is my percent yield?
In order to get the theoretical yield you need to solve the stoichiometric problem. How
much LiCl can be formed?

20.0 g LiOH x

1 mol LiOH
1 mol LiCl 42.44 g LiCl
x
x
23.94 g LiOH 1mol LiOH 1 mol LiCl

= 35.5 g LiCl

The actual yield was 6 grams! The percent yield is

%LiCl

6.00 g LiCl
x 100 =17.0
35.5 g LiCl

Skill Builders III:

1. Given that iron metal reacts with bromine, Br 2, to produce iron(III) bromide, FeBr 3.
a)
Write the balanced or stoichiometric equation.
b)
What mass of Br2 would be required to react completely with 210. g Fe?
c)
What mass of FeBr3 could be theoretically produced from 210. g Fe?
d)
Only 674 g FeBr3 was recovered from the reaction of 210. g Fe and excess
Br2. Calculate the percent of theoretical yield of FeBr 3.
2. Methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen) is prepared by heating salicylic acid, C 7H6O3 , with
methanol, CH3OH.
C7H6O3 + CH3OH C8H8O3 + H2O
In an experiment, 1.50 g of salicylic acid is reacted with an excess of methanol. The yield
of methyl salicylate, C8H8O3 , is 1.31 g. What is the percentage yield?

Limiting and Excess Reactants

When one or more reactants (or reagents) react, the one that is exhausted first is called
the limiting reactant or limiting reagent. When one reactant is exhausted, no more
reaction can take place. The reactants left are called excess reactants or excess
reagents.For example, when equal masses of CO and O2 react, CO will be used up first,
because the equation is
2CO(g) + O2 (g) 2CO2 (g)
Since both reagents are equal, lets assume 28 g each of CO and O 2. Finding the moles of
CO will allow us to calculate the amount of O2 required.

28 g CO x

1 mol CO 1 mol O2 32 g O2
x
x
=16 g O2
28 g CO 2 mol CO 1mol O 2

Remember we have 28 g of O2 but we only need 16 g to react with the CO. That means
that oxygen is our excess reagent and CO is our limiting reagent. The amount of oxygen
gas left over will be (28 g-16g) = 16 g O2. All of the CO will be consumed and the reaction
will stop.
There are several ways to solve limiting reagent problems. The most important part is to
recognize it as such! In all of the previous examples, the amount of only one starting
material is given. This time you were given the amount of both reagent. You will always
be given more than one amount of reagents in a limiting reagent problem.
Sometimes you can tell which is the limiting reagent by inspecting the balanced reaction.
If you have, 4 moles of N2 and 6 moles H2 for the reaction below,
N2
+
3H2
2NH3
You can see that for every mol of N2, you need 3 mol of H2 . Therefore, you would need 12
mol of H2 to react with 4 moles of N2 (3x4). Since you only have 6 moles H2 , hydrogen is
the limiting reagent and nitrogen is in excess.
Other times it is hard to solve the problem by inspection. Below is a list of steps that you
can use.
Steps for Solving Limiting Reagent Problems

1. Make sure you have a balanced equation.

2. Calculate the molar masses of all compounds that you are interested in.
3. From each starting material, determine the amount of the desired product that can be
formed.
4. Compare the two product amounts; the lower amount is the amount that will be
formed, and the reactant is the limiting reagent. Be sure to specify which of the two
answers is you final answer or you will lose points.
Example 1:
Methanol (CH3OH) can be burned as an alternative to fossil fuels. For the following
reaction, determine the amount of CO2 that is formed when 130.0 g of CH3OH reacts with
150.0 g of O2.
1. Make sure you have a balanced equation.
2. Calculate the molar masses of all compounds that you are interested in.
2 CO2(g) + 4 H2O(g)
2 CH3OH(g) + 3 O2(g)
32.04 g/mol 32.00 g/mol
44.01 g/mol
3.
From each starting material, determine the amount of the desired product that can
be formed.

130.0 g C H 3 OH x

150.0 g O2 x

1mol C H 3 OH
2 mol C O2
44.01 g C O2
x
x
=178.6 g C O 2
32.04 g C H 3 OH 2 mol C H 3 OH 1 mol C O 2

1 mol O2 2 mol C O 2 44.01 g C O2

x
x
=137.5 g C O2
32.00 g O2 3 mol O2
1 mol C O2

Less CO2 is produced from the oxygen, so oxygen is the limiting reagent and the
theoretical yield is 137.5 g of CO2.
Example 2:

The following reaction occurs when aluminum is heated with oxygen:

4 Al + 3 O2 2 Al2O3
A reacting mixture contains 50.0 g aluminum and 50.0 g of oxygen. a) What is the
theoretical yield of aluminum oxide? (b)What is the % yield if the aluminum oxide at the
end of the reaction was 25.0 g?

Skill Builders IV:

1. Powdered aluminum and iron(III) oxide react with a large evolution of heat according
to the following equation
2 Al + Fe2O3 Al2O3 + 2 Fe
In one experiment, 0.360 mole of Al was added to 0.200 mole of Fe2O3.
a) Which reactant, if either, was the limiting reactant?
b) Calculate the theoretical yield (in moles) of iron
2. Phosphorus(V) chloride reacts with water to give phosphoric acid and hydrogen
chloride according to the following equation.
PCl5 + 4 H2O H3PO4 + 5 HCl
In one experiment, 0.360 mole of PCl5 was slowly added to 1.30 moles of water.
a) Which reactant, if any, was the limiting reagent?
b)Calculate the theoretical yields (in moles) of H3PO4 and HCl.
3. The following reaction occurs when aluminum is heated with oxygen:
4 Al + 3 O2 2 Al2O3
A reacting mixture contains 50.0 g aluminum and 50.0 g of oxygen.
a) Find the limiting reagent.
b) How many grams of aluminum oxide will form?
c) How many grams of excess reagent will remain?
4. Carbon disulfide, CS2 , burns in oxygen. Complete combustion gives the reaction
CS2 (g) + 3 O2 (g) CO2 (g) + 2 SO2 (g)
Calculate the grams of sulfur dioxide, SO 2 , produced when a mixture of 30.0 g of carbon
disulfide and 35.0 g of oxygen reacts. Which reactant is incompletely consumed at the
end of the combustion? How many grams remain?
Thermochemical Equations
Energy can also be expressed in a chemical reaction. A thermochemical equation is a
chemical equation that shows the heat either absorbed or given off for the amount of
substances specified. The heat of the reaction is also governed by stoichiometry. Look at
the reaction below
2H2O (l) 2H2 (g) + O2(g) Hrxn = 572 kJ
Because the value of Hrxn is positive this is an endothermic reaction. Another way to
express this is by putting the energy term on the reactant side since this energy is
required to get the reaction to go.

572 kJ + 2H2O (l) 2H2 (g) + O2(g)

If we double the amount of water, lets say 4 moles of water instead of 2 moles, the
energy required will double. If we start with 1 mole the energy required will halve. If the
physical states change the energy value will be different. Watch the video below to learn
how to do thermochemical problems.
Thermochemical Equations-Stoichiometry with Energy

Skill Builders V:
1. Compare the quantities of heat liberated per mole of iron formed when the oxides
Fe3O4 and Fe2O3
are reduced by aluminum-.
3 Fe3O4 (s) + 8 Al (s) 4Al2O3 + 9 Fe(s)
H = 3.34009 103 kJ
2 Fe2O3 (s) + 2 Al (s)

H = 8.5019 102 kJ

Al O + 2 Fe(s)

2. Calculate the amount of heat released when 10.0 g ethyl alcohol, C 2H5OH burns in
oxygen to CO2
and H2O and the products are cooled to 25.0 C.
C2H5OH + 3 O2 2CO2

+ 3H2O
H = 1.368 103 kJ
3. How much heat energy is released when 6.00 lb (about one gallon) of gasoline
with a combustion that corresponds to octane is completely burned and the
products are cooled to 25.0C? Use the
following equation and note that:
1 lb = 453.6 g.
2 C8H18 + 25 O2
16 CO2 + 18 H2O
H = 1.09413 104 kJ
4. How much heat would be required in order to produce 562.0 g of mercury metal,
Hg, from solid
mercury(II)oxide, HgO.
2HgO 2Hg + O2

H = 1.8158 x 102 kJ

12

6/7/2016