Stoichiometry of Reactions Between Ions in Solutions
Key Questions
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Answer:
Well, stoichiometry requires EQUIVALENCE with respect to mass and charge....
Explanation:
And for an older treatment of the principles involved, see [this old answer.](https://socratic.org/questions/can-you-explain-balancing-chemical-equations-in-detail) And the fundamental principle of stoichiometry is
"garbage in equals garbage out" . Every chemical reaction must be balanced with respect to mass and charge. A10*g mass of reactants from all sources yields at most a10*g mass of products."Molarity" is a concentration term, i.e."molarity"="moles of solute"/"volume of solution" ...and as such it has the units ofmol*L^-1 .. And so if we have TWO of the three quantities, say"molarity" and"volume" , we can get the third.."moles of solute" ...…
"molarity"xx"volume"="moles" ....and this is certainly consistent dimensionally. What do I mean by this?And a practical example? Well suppose I gots a
100*mL volume ofHCl(aq) , that is1*mol*L^-1 with respect toHCl . What mass of sodium hydroxide is required for equivalence?We write out the stoichiometric equation as a preliminary:
HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq)rarr NaCl(aq) +H_2O(l) n_"HCl"=0.100*Lxx1*mol*L^-1=0.100*mol And for equivalence we require equimolar sodium hydroxide...
0.100*molxxunderbrace(40.0*g*mol^-1)_"molar mass of NaOH"=4.00*g ...i.e. a4*g mass of hydroxide is required for equivalence. -
Answer:
How? The idea that not only mass is conserved but charge is conserved is a tenet of stoichiometry.
Explanation:
At its simplest level, stoichiometry embodies conservation of mass. If there are 10 g of reactant, at most there can be 10 g of product. But while mass is conserved in a chemical reaction; charge is also conserved. When we represent a redox reaction we use the addition/removal of electrons to represent reduction/oxidation respectively. Cross multiplication of the individual redox reactions shows how charge is conserved.