STOICHIOMETRY

Stoichiometry is the study of the relative quantities of reactants and products in a chemical reaction.

Consider the equation:

C3H8 + 5O2 → 3CO2 + 4H2O

Once an equation is balanced we get the chemical reaction in terms of the number of moles (mole ratio). The
above equation means that 1 mole of C3H8 will react with 5 moles of O2 to produce 3 moles of CO2 and 4 moles
of H2O.

If we had 2 moles of C3H8, we would need 10 moles of O2 and produce 6 moles of CO2 and 8 moles of H2O.

Example 1:

Consider the reaction:

CH3OH + O2 → CO2 + H2O

If 3.50 moles of CH3OH are burned in lots of oxygen:

a) How many moles of oxygen are used?

b) How many moles of water are produced?

Answer:

• Balance the equation. This is a must in stoichiometry!

2CH3OH + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 4H2O

• Part a:
According to the equation, the mole ratio of CH3OH to O2 is 2:3. This means that for every 2 moles of
CH3OH we need 3 moles of O2.
We have 3.50 moles of CH3OH. How many moles of O2 do we need?

Moles of CH3OH Moles of O2

Mole Ratio (given in equation) 2 3
What we have/need 3.50 x

We know that we have 3.50 moles of CH3OH. We need to find x.

3
x = 3.50 
2
x = 5.25mol.

This is a simple cross multiplication.

 • Part b:
According to the equation, the mole ratio of CH3OH to H2O is 2:4. This means that for every 2 moles of
CH3OH we produce 4 moles of H2O.
We have 3.50 moles of CH3OH. How many moles of O2 do we need?

Moles of CH3OH Moles of H2O

Mole Ratio (given in equation) 2 4
What we have/need 3.50 x

We know that we have 3.50 moles of CH3OH. We need to find x.

4
x = 3.50 
2
x = 7mol.

Example 2:

More often than not you will be given questions with masses of the reactants and/or products rather than the
moles. In order to tackle such questions you have to convert the masses to moles first. Remember a balanced
equation gives you mole ratios…NOT mass ratios!

Consider the equation:

2H2 + O2 → 2H2O

a) Calculate the mass of H2 needed to produce 4.00g of water.

b) Calculate the mass of water that can be produced from 4.00g of oxygen.

• Part a:
The equation is balanced. According to the equation the mole ratio of H2 to H2O is 2:2 or 1:1. So every
mole of H2 produces 1 mole of H2O.
It would be easy to determine the moles of H2 needed if we knew the moles of H2O, but we only have
the mass of H2O.

So the first thing we need to do is find the number of moles of H2O.

m
n=
M
m H 2O
n H 2O =
M H 2O
4.00
n H 2O =
18.02
n H 2O = 0.222mol.
 Now we can proceed as in example 1:

Moles of H2 Moles of H2O

Mole Ratio (given in equation) 1 1
What we have/need x 0.222

It is clear that x = 0.222 moles of H2.

The question asks for the mass of H2, so we need to calculate the mass:

m = nM
mH 2 = n H 2 M H 2
mH 2 = (0.222)(2.02)
mH 2 = 0.448g

• Part b:
This is the same as part a, except we are dealing with water and oxygen.
According to the equation the mole ratio of O2 to H2O is 1:2. So every mole of O2 produces 2 moles of
H2O.
It would be easy to determine the moles of H2O produced if we knew the moles of O2, but we only
have the mass of O2.

So the first thing we need to do is find the number of moles of O2.

m
n=
M
mO2
nO2 =
M O2
4.00
nO2 =
32.00
nO2 = 0.125mol.

Now we can proceed as in example 1:

Moles of O2 Moles of H2O

Mole Ratio (given in equation) 1 2
What we have/need 0.125 x

x = 0.125 x 2 moles of H2O

x = 0.250 mol. H2O

 The question asks for the mass of H2O, so we need to calculate the mass:

m = nM
m H 2O = n H 2O M H 2O
mH 2O = (0.250)(18.02)
mH 2O = 4.51g

Watch these videos and do the questions below.

https://youtu.be/7ln4DSfFGak

Khan Academy videos:

https://youtu.be/SjQG3rKSZUQ

https://youtu.be/jFv6k2OV7IU

https://youtu.be/eQf_EAYGo-k

These videos use dimensional analysis to do the questions. Feel free to look them over.

https://youtu.be/3-rk3axcoYw

https://youtu.be/LQq203gyftA
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