Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr.

J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

Ch 5 Chemical Calculations (syllabus Section 3.3)

Stoichiometry:
the ratio of the reactants and products in a balanced symbol equation

 Important to know this to meet the requirement of green chemistry and

atom economy
 Consideration of the quantities involved in reactions is vital to modern
chemistry.
 Chemist count atoms and molecules by weighing them because these are
too small to count.  apply ‘the mole’ concept!

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

1. The mole & Avogadro’s constant

a) The mole – the chemical counting unit

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑚 𝑚
n= n= or n =
6.02 × 1023 𝑀𝑟 𝐴𝑟

b) Linking the Mole and the Relative Atomic mass

KEY WORDS
Molar mass: the mass, in grams, of 1 mole of a substance
Avogadro constant: the number (6.02 x 1023) of characteristic particles in 1 mole of a substance
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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

2. Calculations involving the mole

a) Calculating moles
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎
𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 =
𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔
𝒎 𝒎
𝐧= 𝒐𝒓 𝐧 =
𝑴𝒓 𝑨𝒓
Examples
Substance Mass Mr Amount in moles
NaOH 80 g 40 80/40 = 2 moles
CaCO3 25 g 100 25/100 = 0.25 moles
H2SO4 4.9 g 98 4.9/98 = 0.05 moles
H2O 108 g 18 108/18 = 6 moles
CuSO4·5H2O 75 g 250 75/250 = 0.3 moles

b) Calculating mass
𝐦 = 𝐧 × 𝑴𝒓

Examples
Substance Amount in moles Mr Mass (g)
H2O 0.5 moles 18 0.5 x 18 = 9 g
NaCl 3 moles 58.5 3 x 58.5 = 175.5 g
K2CO3 0.2 moles 138 0.2 x 138 = 27.6 g
(NH4)2SO4 2.5 moles 132 2.5 x 132 = 330 g
MgSO4·7H2O 0.25 moles 246 0.25 x 246 = 61.5 g

3. Using the mole to determine Empirical & Molecular formulae

1) Finding Empirical Formula
 The empirical formula shows the simplest whole number ratio of atoms of each element in
the compound.
From the formula of a compound you can tell what masses of the elements combine. But you can also
do things the other way round. If you know what masses combine, you can work out the formula.
These are the steps:

a) calculating from mass (g)

sulfur oxygen
Mass combined 32 g 32 g
Molar mass 32 g/mol 16 g/mol
Number of moles 32/32 = 1 mol 32/16 = 2mol
Simplest ratio 1 2
Empirical formula SO2

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

b) calculating from % by mass data

 From the percentage, find the mass of each element in 100g of compound

carbon hydrogen
Percentage by mass 80% 20%
Mass in 100g 80 g 20 g
Molar mass 12 g/mol 1 g/mol
Number of moles 80/12 = 6.67 mol 20/1 = 20 mol
Simplest ratio 6.67/6.67 = 1 20/6.67 = 3
Empirical formula CH3
But we can tell right away that the molecular formula for Y must be different. (A carbon atom does not bond to
only 3 hydrogen atoms.)

Example 3. Phosphorous burns in air to produce white clouds of phosphorus oxide. The oxide contains 44%
phosphorus. What is empirical formula?

- Phosphorus oxide contains only P and O atoms. Therefore if 44% P, 100 – 44 = 56% O in a compound.
P O
Percentage by mass 44% 56%
Mass in 100g 44 g 56 g
Molar mass 31 g/mol 16 g/mol
Number of moles 1.4 mol 3.5 mol
Simplest ratio 1.4/1.4 = 1 3.5/1.4 = 2.5
Simplest whole number ratio 2 5
Empirical formula P2O5

2) From empirical to find formula

The formula of an ionic compound is the same as its empirical formula.

the empirical formula of ethane is CH3.

But its molecular formula is C2H6.

Name of compound Molecular formula Empirical formula

Methane CH4 CH4
Ethane C2H6 CH3
Ethene C2H4 CH2
Benzene C6H6 CH

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

C H
Percentage by mass 84.2 % 15.8 %
Mass in 100g 84.2 g 15.8 g
Molar mass 12 g/mol 1 g/mol
Number of moles 7.02 mol 15.8 mol
Simplest ratio 7.02/7.02 = 1 15.8/7.02 = 2.25
Simplest whole number ratio 4 9
Empirical formula C4H9

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

3) Finding the formula of a hydrated salt

4. The mole and chemical equations

The coefficients in the chemical equation show the mole ratios of substances.

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

1) Calculating reacting amounts – a chemical ‘footbridge’

Magnesium Magnesium oxide

mol (from equation) 2 2
ratio 1 1
mol (actual amount) 0.25 ? = 0.25

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

Aluminium oxide aluminium

mol ratio (from equation) 2 4
ratio 1 2
mol (actual amount) 500000 ? = 1000000

Example 3:
What mass of aluminium oxide is produced when 9.20 g of aluminium metal reacts completely with
oxygen gas?
 Write a right chemical equation and do stoichiometric calculation

4 mol 2 mol ratio is 2:1

0.340mol 𝑥 mol 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑓 0.340 𝑚𝑜𝑙  0.170 mol𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3

𝑚 9.20
3 significant figures 9.20 g Al  n = = = 0.340 mol m = n x Mr =
𝐴𝑟 27
0.170 x 102 = 17.3 g

Significant figures:
 the number of digits in a number, not including any zeros at the beginning;
for example the number of significant figures in 0.0682 is three.
 The trailing zeroes after a decimal point are always significant
For example the number of significant figures in 0.170 is three.
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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

5. Limiting reactants and limiting masses

a) Limiting reactant vs excess reactant
• The limiting reactant is the reactant that is not in excess. The reactant completely consumed in a
chemical reaction and limits the amount of product.
• The excess reactant is any reactant that occurs in a quantity greater than is required to completely
react with the limiting reactant.

Example 1)

Example 2)

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

Example 3)
Consider the reaction: 2 Mg(s) + O2(g) 2 MgO(s)

A reaction mixture contains 42.5g Mg and 33.8g O2; what is the limiting reactant and
theoretical yield? Suppose the actual yield of MgO is 55.9g. What is % yield?

 Find out moles of each reactants 3 significant figures

42.5 g Mg: n = m/Ar = 42.5/24 = 1.77 mol Mg atoms

33.8 g O2: n = m/Mr = 33.8/32 = 1.06 mol O2 molecules

Mg O2
2 1
1.77 mol Will need 0.89 mol O2 but 1.06mol is
available so this is in excess
1.06mol
Limiting reactant Excess reactant
 Find out moles of MgO based on the limiting reactant Mg

Mg : MgO
2 : 2
1 : 1 ratio
1.77 mol : 𝑥  𝑥 = 1.77 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑀𝑔𝑂

 Convert mole of MgO to mass

M = n x Mr = 1.77 x 40.31 = 71.3 g
𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 Final answer is reported
% 𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 to 3 significant figures

 % yield = actual yield/theoretical yield x 100 = 55.9/71.3 x 100 = 78.4% yield

6. Calculating % Yield & % Purity of the Product

a) Percentage yield (% yield)

𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅
% 𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅

Example: Percentage yield (% yield)

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

2 significant figures

Final answer is reported

to 2 significant figures

b) Percentage purity

𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

% 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

Final answer is reported

81.1 = 82 % to 2 significant figures

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

7. Calculating percentage (%) Composition by mass

1) % composition of element in a compound

2) % composition of water in a hydrated compound

8. Calculations involving gases

a) Avogadro’s law
 Gas particles are far apart
 Any gas can be regarded as largely empty space
 Avogadro’s law: Equal volumes of gas, under same conditions of termperature and pressure, contain
the same number of particles

 Molar gas volume: 1 mole of any gas has the same volume under the same conditions of
temperature and pressure
 Molar volume is 24 dm3/mol at r.t.p
(r.t.p.: room temperature and pressure;
the standard values are 25°C/298K and 101.3 kPa/1 atmosphere pressure)

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

b) Calculations involving Gases

𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒎𝟑

𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 =
𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 (𝟐𝟒 𝒅𝒎𝟑 ) 𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒕𝒑

𝑽
𝐧=
𝑽𝒎
Don’t forget to convert cm3 to dm3

(1 dm3 = 1000 cm3) (1 cm3 = 0.001 dm3)

i) Calculating the volume of gas that a particular amount of moles occupies

Examples
Name of gas Formula Amount of gas Volume of gas
(moles)
Hydrogen H2 3 moles 3 x 24 = 72 dm3
Carbon dioxide CO2 0.25 moles 0.25 x 24 = 6 dm3
Oxygen O2 5.4 moles 5.4 x 24 = 129.6 dm3
Ammonia NH3 0.02 moles 0.02 x 24 = 0.48 dm3
E OF GAS AMOUNT OF GAS VOLUME OF GAS
ii) Calculating the moles in a particular volume of gas

Name of gas Formula Volume of gas Amount of gas (moles)

3
Methane CH4 225.6 dm 225.6/24 = 9.4 mol
Carbon Monoxide CO 7.2 dm3 7.2/24 = 0.3 mol
Sulfur Dioxide SO2 960 dm3 960/24 = 40 mol
Oxygen O2 1200 cm3 1200/24000 = 0.05
or 1.2/24 = 0.05

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

iii) Calculating reacting volume of gas

Example 1)

Example 2)
Find out the volume of oxygen gas need to completely react with 9.20 g of aluminium
3 significant figures

4 mol 3 mol
0.34mol 𝑥 mol

Cross multiplication 4 × 𝑥 = 3 × 0.341 𝑥 = 0.256 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑂2 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠

𝑚 9.2
9.20 g Al  n = = = 0.341 mol V = n x 24 = 0.256 x 24 = 6.14 dm3
𝐴𝑟 27
Final answer is reported
9. Moles and solution chemistry to 3 significant figures

1) Concentration of solution
 When a chemical substance (the solute) is dissolved in a volume of solvent, we can measure the
‘quantity’ of solute in two ways.
 Mass concentration: the measure of the concentration of a solution in terms of the mass of the
solute, in grams, dissolved per cubic decimetre of solution (g/dm3)
 Molar concentration: the measure of the concentration of a solution in terms of the number of
moles of solute dissolved per cubic decimetre of solution (mol/dm3)
 When 1 mole of a substance is dissolved in water and the solution is made up to 1 dm3
(1000 cm3), a solution with a concentration of 1 mol/dm3)

𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 =
𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒎𝟑

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

2) Calculations using solution concentrations

𝒏
𝐂 =
𝑽 Remember this Volume is a
volume of solution.
If gas involved, you must use

n = V/Vm
a) Calculating moles involving aqueous solution

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

b) Calculating concentration

Example:
Calculate the concentration of solution of NaOH that contains 10 g of NaOH in a final volume of 250
cm3.

 Convert 10 g to number of moles:

𝑚 10
n= = = 0.25 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑀𝑟 40

 Find out concentration

𝑛 0.25
C= = = 1 mol/dm3
𝑉 0.250

c) Calculating reacting volume of solution

d) Acid-base titration calculations

KEY WORDS
 Titration:
a method of quantitative analysis using solutions: one solution is slowly added to a known volume
of another solution using a burette until an end-point is reached
 Standard solution:
a solution whose concentration is known precisely – this solution is then used to find the
concentration of another solution by titration

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

Burette: standard
solution of known
concentration

Conical flask:
unknown
concentration
Dropping
pipette

Example 1

𝒏 𝟐. 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑
𝑪= = = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟐𝟓 𝒎𝒐𝒍/𝒅𝒎𝟑
𝑽 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟎𝟎
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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

Example 2

10. A Summary of the different ways in which a balanced equation acts as a

‘footbridge’ in calculations

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 Alma Mater International School (Chemistry, Dr. J NOH)
Ch 5 Chemical Calculations, IGCSE Syllabus Section 3.3

11. The mole as a measure of amount f substance in different situations

𝑚 𝑚
n= or n =
𝑀𝑟 𝐴𝑟

n=CxV
for solution

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑉
n= n= ONLY for GAS
6.02 × 1023 𝑉𝑚

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