Introduction to Stoichiometry

Molecular weight
Formula Mass
Molecular Mass
Avagadros Number
Moles

Atomic Mass: Where can you

find it?
An atomic mass unit is defined as 1/12
the weight of the carbon-12 isotope.
The old symbol was amu, while the
most correct symbol is u (a lower case
letter u).
The atomic mass of any element is the
average atomic mass and found on
the periodic table.

Molecular Weight, Formula Mass

and Molar Mass
The molecular weight of a substance is
the weight in atomic mass units of all the
atoms in a given formula.
The formula mass of a substance is the
mass in amu of all the atoms in a given
formula
The molar mass is the same as
molecular weight or formula mass but is
described as the mass of one mole of a
substance.

How to calculate the molecular

weight: Point 1
You need to know how many atoms
of each element are in a substance
in order to calculate its molecular
weight.

Example:
For example H2O has two atoms of
hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.
H2O2 has two atoms each of
oxygen and hydrogen. Mg(OH)2 has
one atom of magnesiun and two
each of oxygen and hydrogen.

How can you tell how many

atoms are in a formula?
If a subscript follows an atom with
no parenthesis, that number tells
you how many of that atom are
present. If parentheses are
involved, you must multiply each
subscript inside by the one which
is outside.

Examples:
How many of each element are in
the following examples:
KCl
Fe2O3
Al(NO3)3
NH4NO3
Al2(SO4)3

Answers:
KCl -- K - one; Cl - one
Fe2O3 -- Fe - two; O - three
Al(NO3)3 -- Al - one; N - three; O - nine
NH4NO3 -- N - two; H - four; O - three
Al2(SO4)3 -- Al - two; S - three; O twelve

After finding the number of

atoms, you need to find the
atomic mass of each element
#2 to know the atomic
Point
You need
weight of each element in order to
calculate the molecular weight of
the substance.
The atomic weight of each element
is found by examining the periodic
table.

How to calculate the

molecular weight of a
Example #1 - Al2(SO4)3
substance

There are:
two atoms of aluminum and the
atomic weight of Al is 26.98 amu.
three atoms of sulfur and the
atomic weight of S is 32.06 amu.
twelve atoms of oxygen and the
atomic weight of O is 16.00 amu.

First multiply:
2 x 26.98 = 53.96 total weight of all Al in
formula
3 x 32.06 = 96.18 total weight of all S in
formula
12 x 16.00 = 192.00 total weight of all O in
formula
Then add: 53.96 + 96.18 + 192.00 =
342.14 amu.
This answer, 342.14 amu, represents the
molecular weight of Al2(SO4)3

Review:
four steps to calculating a
substance's molecular weight
Step 1: Determine how many atoms of
each different element are in the
formula.
Step 2: Look up the atomic weight of
each element in a periodic table.
Step 3: Multiply step one times step two
for each element.
Step 4: Add the results of step three
together and round off as necessary.

Special Note about Hydrates

Suppose you were asked to calculate the
molecular weight of CuSO4 . 5H2O
The dot DOES NOT mean multiply.
You could approach this two ways:
1.Add the atomic weights of one copper, one
sulfur, nine oxygens, and ten hydrogens.
2.Add the atomic weights of one copper, one
sulfur, and four oxygens. Then add the
molecular weight of five H2O molecules.
The answer is 249.68 amu.

Practice Problems:
Calculate the molecular weight of:
1) (NH4)2S
2) Fe2O3
3) KClO4
4) SF6
5) (NH4)2SO4

Answers to the practice

problems: *Answers rounded to
Sig figs based on the periodic
table used
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

68.14 amu
159.692 amu
138.65 amu
146.05 amu
132.13 amu

Just what is a mole?

The mole is the standard method
in chemistry for communicating
how much of a substance is
present.

Here is how the International Union of

Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
defines "mole:"

The mole is the amount of substance of

a system which contains as many
elementary entities as there are
atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon-12.
When the mole is used, the
elementary entities must be specified
and may be atoms, molecules, ions,
electrons, other particles, or specified
groups of such particles.

Where did Avagadros Number

come from?
Using Mass Spectroscopy data,
scientists describe the number of
elementary entities in carbon-12
as a quantity that equals 6.02 x 1023
entities which is equal to one mole.
The quantity was called Avagadros
number in honor of his work on
gases and the mole concept.

What is Avagadros Number

again?
one mole of ANYTHING contains
6.02 x 1023 entities.
In other words, there are 6.02 x 1023
anythings in one mole of anything!

Examples:
One mole of
donuts
One mole of
molecules
One mole of
One mole of
One mole of
One mole of
electrons

donuts contains 6.02 x 1023

H2O contains 6.02 x 1023
nails contains 6.02 x 1023 nails
Fe contains 6.02 x 1023 atoms
dogs contains 6.02 x 1023 dogs
electrons contains 6.02 x 1023

 When we weigh one mole of a

substance on a balance, this is called
a "molar mass" and has the units
g/mol (grams per mole). This idea is
very critical because it is used all the
time.
A molar mass is the weight in grams
of one mole.
One mole contains 6.02 x 1023 entities.
Therefore, a molar mass is the mass in
grams of 6.02 x 1023 entities.

How do you calculate molar

mass?
YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW!
The molar mass of a substance is
the molecular weight in grams.
All you need to do is calculate the
molecular weight and stick the unit
"g/mol" after the number and that
is the molar mass for the
substance in question.

Example:
Calculate the molar mass of Al(NO 3)3
(1 x 26.98) + (3 x 14.007) + (9 x
16.00) = 213.00 g/mol
213.00 grams is the mass of one mole
of aluminum nitrate.
213.00 grams of aluminum nitrate
contains 6.02 x 1023 entities of
Al(NO3)3

How to convert moles to grams:

There are three steps to converting
moles of a substance to grams:
1.Determine how many moles are
given in the problem.
2.Calculate the molar mass of the
substance.
3.Multiply step one by step two.

You can convert proportionally:

The three steps above can be
expressed in the following proportion:
grams of the molar mass of
substance
the substance

moles of the
one mole
substance

molar mass
x grams
of substance = of substance
one mole
x moles of
substance

Or, you can convert using

dimensional analysis:
X moles of substance molar mass
(in g)
one mole
= grams of substance

Converting from grams to moles:

You can convert using a proportion
or dimensional analysis.
You would use the same process
that was used to convert moles to
grams.

Converting moles to atoms, ions,

molecules, etc.
You can use proportions or dimensional
analysis. However, you need to
realize that you cannot directly
convert grams to atoms, ions,
molecules, etc.
Converting to ions, atoms, etc requires
using Avagadros Number
(6.02 x 1023 = 1 mole)

Example:
4 moles of sulfur = _______ atoms
4 moles

6.02 x 1023 atoms=

1 moles

= 2.41 x 1024 atoms sulfur