Essay On Stoichiometry

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This is called a chemical equation. These are used to determine the reactants and products in a chemical reaction. Reactants are always listed on the left side of the equation, and products are always listed on the right. According to Antoine Lavoisier’s Law of Conservation of Mass (which states that the total amount of mass will remain constant, no matter what), the same number of atoms of an element must be present on both sides of the equation. If there is not, we must balance the equation. In order to do this, we add coefficients to the front of individual compounds. However, since there are the same number of atoms of each element on both sides of this equation, it is already balanced. Balancing a chemical equation is also called stoichiometry. Stoichiometry allows us to calculate the proportions of reactants to products. This has to do with the law of multiple proportions. This law states that a specific mass of one element combines with a specific mass of another in a ratio of whole numbers. Another use of stoichiometry is to convert to moles. The mole, a constant discovered by Avogadro, allows us to compare any substance with another. In a chemical equation, substances are compared using a mole to mole ratio: for example, in the acid base reaction: 2KOH + H2SO4 → 2H2O + K2SO4, Two moles of potassium hydroxide are required to combine with one mole of sulfuric acid. In the equation, we can see combinations of letters representing the different compounds. A compound is a substance consisting of two or more elements that are chemically combined. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into a simpler substance. These combinations of letters are called chemical formulas. Chemical formulas consist of different ... ... middle of paper ... ...ture composed of two or more substances. Because the two substances are able to form a homogeneous mixture, they are said to be miscible. The substances are not chemically combined. The solute cannot be filtered out, and a solution will not display a tyndall effect. Also, the solute is generally the substance which there is less of. Aqueous solutions like NaOH or HCl are dissolved in water. In the 0.1 M solution of NaOH, the NaOH is the solute and water is the solvent. There are certain solubility rules that determine weather or not a substance is soluble. NaOH is soluble because of the rule stating that “salts containing group I elements are soluble,” and Na is in group I on the periodic table. Solutions have different concentrations. This concentration is called Molarity. The symbol M stands for molarity. In order to find the molarity, we must use the equation:

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