mole (units: mol): chemistry unit measurement representing 6.05⋅1023 atoms or molecules of a substance
Avogadro's number: 6.02⋅1023
molar mass: gram amount of each mole of a substance; equal to atomic mass on periodic table
molar mass of compounds is the sum of molar masses of each atom in the compound
the number of atoms in a substance is in the right ratio
the number of atoms/molecules in a balanced chemical equation is in the right ratio
Example
In the equation 2CX6HX6+15OX212COX2+6HX2O: 2molCX6HX6=15molOX2 5molOX2=4molCOX2
Other ratios similarly apply
Molarity (units: M=mol/L): moles of a solute dissolved per liter of solution
Density (units: g/cm3 or g/mL): grams of a substance per cubic centimeter (or milliliter)
Possible conversions
Example 1
How many N atoms are in 1000g of (NHX4)X3POX4?
Convert grams of the molecule to moles of the molecule using the molar mass (149.1g/mol),
then to moles of nitrogen (3molN/mol(NHX4)X3POX4), then to atoms. 1000g(NHX4)X3POX4⋅149.1g(NHX4)X3POX41mol(NHX4)X3POX4⋅1mol(NHX4)X3POX43molN⋅molN6.02⋅1023Natoms=1.21⋅1025Natoms
Example 2
How many moles of water will be formed from the complete combustion of 2.50mol of CHX4?
The balanced equation will be CHX4+2OX2COX2+2HX2O
So, we have 2.50molCHX4⋅1molCHX42molHX2O=5molHX2O
Limiting Reactants
some problems ask to determine the limiting reactants: the substance that is totally consumed in a reaction
the other substance is the excess reactant(s)
Example
If 45.5mL of 0.200MAgNOX3 (molar mass =169.9g/mol) is mixed with 35.8mL of 0.436MNaX2CrOX4 (molar mass =161.9g/mol), how many grams of the precipitate AgX2CrOX4 (molar mass =331.7g/mol)?
The balanced chemical equation is 2AgNOX3(aq)+NaX2CrOX4(aq)AgX2CrOX4(s)+2NaNOX3(aq)
We must determine which reactant would produce a lower theoretical hield of silver chromate.
The silver nitrate is completely consumed with 45.5mLAgNOX3⋅1000mLAgNOX30.200molAgNOX3⋅2molAgNOX31molNaX2CrOX4⋅0.436molNaX2CrOX41000mLNaX2CrOX4=10.4mLNaX2CrOX4
Since we have more sodium chromate than that, the limiting reactant must be silver nitrate.
Thus, we convert silver nitrate to silver chromate 45.5mLAgNOX3⋅1000mLAgNOX30.200molAgNOX3⋅2molAgNOX31molAgX2CrOX4⋅1molAgX2CrOX4331.7gAgX2CrOX4=1.51gAgX2CrOX4
Titration
a technique to determine the concentration of a substance of an unknown concentration
done by adding a controlled amount of an indicator until the color changes, indicating a completed reaction
Example
What is the molarity of a 30.00mL solution of FeX2+ if it takes 4.53mL of 0.687MMnOX4X− to titrate it? 5FeX2++MnOX4X−+8HX+MnX2++5FeX3++4HX2O
We convert 0.687MMnOX4X− to molarity of FeX2+ 1000mLMnOX4X−0.687molMnOX4X−⋅1molMnOX4X−5molFeX2+⋅30.00mLFeX2+4.53mLMnOX4X−⋅1LFeX2+1000mLFeX2+=0.519mol/LFeX2+=0.519MFeX2+
Other Types of Problems
Percent Composition
use stoichiometry to determine the mass of an element in a substance
divide it by the total amount of the substance to find the percent composition by mass
Empirical Formulas
only requires the simplest whole-number ratio of each element
determine the number of moles of each
divide all of them by the smallest value to get a ratio
if the ratio contains .5 or .3 or .6 mutiply by 2 or 3 to turn them into whole numbers
Molecular Formulas
the actual formula, not necessarily simplest whole-number ratio
find the molar mass of the empirical formula
determine how many times more the molar mass of the molecular formula is