Non-Copyrighted Material

Stoichiometry
Making Everything Easier!

FOR

DUMMIES
Learn to:
Balance chemical equations

Calculate molar masses

Find charges of elements and compounds

Write out and solve equations from words

Eric Fortier LsA

Learning Center/ La Salle Academy
Non-Copyrighted Material
I really do not know what to write here, but due to my OCD and personal need for detailed replication of things, I need to write something here in fine print. I do
not know what they had originally put here, so I figured because it’s in the fine print, no one will read this anyway. ;)
 Introduction............................................................................................................................3
Finding Charges of Elements.................................................................................................4
Exercises.....................................................................................................................................4
Compounds.............................................................................................................................5
Exercises.....................................................................................................................................6
Significant Digits....................................................................................................................7
Scientific Notation..................................................................................................................8
Exercises.....................................................................................................................................9
Balancing Equations.............................................................................................................10
Exercises...................................................................................................................................11
Stoichiometry.......................................................................................................................12
Tips and Tricks.....................................................................................................................14
Appendix..............................................................................................................................15
Diatomic Pairs...........................................................................................................................15
Table of Atomic Masses with Names and Symbols..................................................................16
Periodic Table of Elements.......................................................................................................17
 Introduction
Welcome to Stoichiometry for Dummies. In this mini booklet, you will learn about

stoichiometry from the bottom, up. Beginning with learning how to find charges, all of the way

through balancing equations and finding ratios of moles.

You may be wondering what a mole is. Many people believe that this type of mole is like

the mole in the ground or on someones face. It is just a common miscommunication, and is fine.

The moles that are being addressed are the universal term for a certain amount of atoms.

6.02x10²³ atoms, Avogadro’s number, is the amount of atoms in a mole.

This short course is made easy by covering the main points of Stoichiometry:

Finding Charges of Elements

Forming Chemical Compounds

Scientific Notation

Significant Digits

Chemical Equations and Balancing Them

Diatomic Pairs

You will be given many tips and tricks that will help you to remember all of the things

you learn her. These tips will help you do to better on tests, understand more in future chemistry,

and act as a reference point.

3
 Finding Charges of Elements
All compounds and elements have charges which can be found easily.
All ions in
Positive Negative each
column
Noble Gases have the
(Non-reactive)
same
+1
Transition Metals charge.
(We’ll deal with these later)
+2 +3 +4 -3 -2 -1

Exercises
Find the charges of the following ions. The first one is already done for you.

1) K- +12) N-3) Ba-4) Ga-5) As-6) I-7) Cl-8) F-9) Ge-10) Sr-11) Cs-12) Sn-

4
 Compounds
Compounds With Neutral Charges

Compounds are a combination of 2 or more ions. A positive and a negative. The

positive ion is placed before the negative ion. They, when put together, must be balanced.
Uh
Compounds With Different Charges Oh!

Many For this to happen, in some cases, there must be more than on of a certain ion. For
example, Hydrogen Oxygen. HO. Hydrogen H has a charge of +1. Oxygen O has a charge of -2.
This is not balanced. For this compound to be balanced, there must be an equal positive and
negative charge, which when balanced, will zero each other. To make the compound’s charges
zero each other, a second hydrogen ion must be added. This compound becomes H₂O commonly
known as water. The Subscript in a name means there are that many of the previous ion in the
compound.
Here’s how it works!

Hydrogen by itself has a charge of +1

Oxygen by itself has a charge of -2
₂
1-2 is -1

If you add another hydrogen ion, the charge of hydrogen becomes positive 2

2-2 is 0

Now the compound in balanced.

By using a common multiple between the two charges, you can find out how many ions
are in the compound.

Least
Common 6
Combine Ca and As Denominator

Ca has a charge of +2
Ca +2 As -3
As has a charge of -3 Then divide by the least 6/2=3 6/3=2
common multiple
Naming Compounds
There must be 3 Ca and 2 As.
5
The balanced compound is Ca₃As₂
 The names of ions change when they are in a compound. The first ion in the compound

stays the same but has a simple variable.

2 of the ion- Di
3 of the ion- Tri
4 of the ion- Tetra

Hydrogen in water(H₂O) is named Dihydrogen.

The second ion in the compound has a more difficult change. The prefix ide is added in

place of it’s current prefix.

Oxygen becomes Oxide.

Water’s chemical name is Dihydrogen Oxide.

Exercises
Put together the following to form balanced compounds. Then label it with it’s correct name. The
first one has already been done for you. Use the Table of Atomic Masses found in the Appendix
at the end of the book for naming the compounds.

1) Li and I- LiI
Lithium Iodide2) Tl and Sb-3) Ge and At-4) Ga and F-5) In and O-6) K and O-7) B and
S-8) Mg and P-9) Ra and As-10) H and P-11) C and N-12) Fr and Bi-

6
 Significant Digits
Significant digits are the amount of digits that have a meaning in a numbers
accuracy. Significant digits are truly “significant” in near everything in chemistry. It is
useful in every equation, and might just be one of the most important thing to remember
SD is an
in chemistry. abbreviation for
Significant
There are 5 rules that tell which digits are significant within the number: Digits

1) All non zero numbers are significant. Rule 3 is the

169,582,734 9SD only rule that
applies to
non-decimal
number.
2) Zeros between 2 significant digits are significant.
14,060,502 8SD

3) Zeros at the end of a non-decimal number are not significant.

209,063,700 7SD

4) Zeros at the beginning of a decimal number are not significant.

1.0009094
4SD

5) Zeros at the end of a decimal number are significant.

308.0090700000
5SD

You are probably thinking that this is not so important, but this is used in formulas, and
you need to know how to apply this. There is one more rule to remember.

Round to the least number of significant digits in the given.

The given is what you can see. It is information that is in the problem. The given is what
can be used to solve for what is asked. Such as:

If Molly has $2.06 and she spends $1.08 on a hot dog, how much will the have left?
There are 3SD in this given.
That is why you need to know how to find this out. Then you can answer in the correct amount of SD.

7
 Scientific Notation
Converting Numbers into Scientific Notation

In chemistry, there are many numbers are to big to easily handle. Scientific notation, also

called exponential notation, is used to make a number easier to manipulate. Scientific notation is

a way to express any number as a number as big as 1 and less than 10, times some power of 10.

Remember Avogadro’s number? 6.02x10²³. This number is in scientific notation. This is a perfect

example of how easy scientific notation makes things. Regularly, this number would be:

602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Being the number of atoms in 1 mole, by itself is fine. In chemistry, though, there are

many moles and this number may be multiplied by large numbers. You can see that multiplying

this by, for example, 87 would be extremely hard to do normally. Multiplying 6.02x10²³ is

incontestably easier.

Converting a number in scientific notation is not that hard to do. The only thing that is

needed is to move the decimal in the number. Here’s how!

When moving the decimal left,

2002985.12 the exponent is a negative number. .0000490819
That is not 654321 12345
When moving the decimal right, the
in exponent is a positive number.
scientific By moving the decimal to the By moving the decimal to the
notation! left 6 spaces, the number is right 5 spaces, the number is
between 1 and 10. In cases where an answer is already in between 1 and 10.
scientific notation, the answer is as
Moving this decimal to the
Moving this decimal to the follows:
left means that the exponent
left means that the exponent X x10⁰
is a negative. It was moved
is a negative. It was moved
six spaces, so this will
six spaces, so this will For example:
become x10⁵
become x10⁻⁶ 6.125

6.125 x10⁰
The number is scientific notation is: The number is scientific notation is:
2.00298512 x10⁻⁶ 4.90819 x10⁻⁵

8
 Exercises
Convert the following numbers into scientific notation. Then round up to the least amount
of significant digits from the given. The first one has been done for you.

1) What is 48 / 6.01641? 2SD

7.978179678579089 x10⁰

7.9 x10⁰2) What is 14 / 37.26?3) What is 113/14?4) What is 1876.13*147?5) What is 0.09947/1.093?6) What is
149*4.078976?7) What is 145/18?8) What is 100/89?9) What is 15.1614/2?10) What is 0.01450*1409?

9
 Balancing Equations
You now know how to find charges, and make compounds. In this section, you will find
out about different types of chemical equations, how to write and balance them. There are 5
types of chemical reactions.
Leave
Hydrogen and Synthesis (Rust)- Characterized as having one product on one side on the equation.
Oxygen to
balance last!
Fe + S₈ -> FeS +ions with - ions.
Likewise. Never
8 Fe
Single Replacement-has one compound and +
oneS₈ -> 8The
element. FeS like charges
reactant replaces an element in the together.
compound. New element and compound are produced.

Cu + AgNO₃-> AgCu + NO₃

Cu + 2AgNO
Double Replacement- two compounds ₃->
react to form two2Ag + (NO₃)₂
new compounds.

Innies and Outties go together KI + Pb(NO₃)₂ -> KNO₃ + PbI2

2KIcompound
Combustion- 2 reactants:carbon + Pb(NO ₃)₂ ->
and oxygen. 2KNO₃ + PbI2
2 products: CO₂ and H₂0

CH₄ + O₂ -> CO₂ + H₂O

Decomposition- The breaking down of a compound into it’s elements.
CH₄ + 2O₂ -> CO₂ + 2H₂O

AgNO₃ -> Ag + N + O₃
Some times, you will be asked to predict the products with the given reactants. In this
case, you will need to know these2AgNO ₃ ->out2Ag
types to figure what + ₂ + 3O
willNhappen ₂ reactants.
to the
Sometimes, you are given a word problem, and must form the equation and balance it. The only
difference is that you must translate the words into elements and compounds. Then carry out the
balancing as usual.

10
 Here’s How
to balance an
equation. Balancing Equations is about getting balance. There has to be the same amount of each
compound or element on each side for the chemical equation to be valid. Use numbers in front of
the compounds and elements to make each side of the equation have equal amounts of
everything it contains.
Remember forming compounds. Well this comes
into play here. You need to determine how many
K₂CrO₄ + Al₂S₃ -> K₂S + Al₂(CrO₄)₃ of each element is in the compound. The
compound must be balanced.
Luckily, it was already done here.

Next. Label all of the elements and main compounds in

K Cr O Al S K Cr O Al S the equation. It is easier if the labels are in the same
order so checking will be very quick.
6 3 12 2 3 6 3 12 2 3 Number how many of each label are on each side.

As you can see, this is not balanced. Put numbers

in front of any of the four compounds until the

Notice how the

3K₂CrO₄ + Al₂S₃ -> 3K₂S + Al₂(CrO₄)₃ numbers for the labels are the same. Remember
to balance Hydrogen and Oxygen last!
number of Oxygen
ions fell into place.
Exercises Now the equation is balanced.
Balance the following equations. Then label what kind of reaction the equation is. The
first one has already been done for you.

Decompositi
on

1) HgO -> Hg + O₂

2HgO -> 2Hg + O₂ 2) C₆H₁₃OH + O₂ -> CO₂ + H₂O3)

Ca(OH)₂ + H₂SO₄ -> CaSO₄ + HOH

11
 Grams
= Moles
Molar Mass

Stoichiometry
You are near your final destination in learning about stoichiometry. In this last section,
you will learn why this is so important, and how to carry out the process of STOICHIOMETRY!
This part of chemistry is used a lot in business, mainly in the industry of cosmetics and
cologne. It is the way of finding out how much of each reagent is needed for a certain product. It
is the relation of moles in a balanced equation. Here’s how it works:

Ammonium nitrate react with Lithium bicarbonate in a double replacement reaction. if 28g
Translate
of Lithium bicarbonate is desired, how much Ammonium nitrate is needed in g?

Ammonium Nitrate Lithium Bicarbonate

Form
NH₄ NO₃ Li HCO₃

NH₄ +1 | NO₃ -1 + Li +1 | HCO₃-1 -> NH₄HCO₃ + LiNO₃

Rewrite
NH₄NO₃ + LiHCO₃ -> NH₄HCO₃ + LiNO₃

NH₄NO₃ + LiHCO₃ -> NH₄HCO₃ + LiNO₃ Balance

N H O Li C N H O Li C
1 5 6 1 1 1 5 6 1 1

NH₄NO₃ + LiHCO₃ -> NH₄HCO₃ + LiNO₃ Pull out coefficients

1 1 1 1
X 0.412
Molar mass of Lithium is 7. X=0.412 Find Molar Mass of
Lithium Bicarbonate
LiHCO₃ 68 28/68= 0.4117647058823531
7+1+12+(3*16) 0.412 moles of Lithium Bicarbonate

NH₄NO₃ 80
x/80=0.412
14+4+14+(16*3) Use formula to find moles
x=32.96 grams of NH₄NO₃ Use formula to find grams

12
 Here’s another:

Ammonium Phosphate reacts with radium fluoride. If 445.6 g of NH₄F are desired, how many
g of (NH₄)₃PO₄ must react?

NH₄+1PO₄-3 + Ra+2 F-1 -> NH₄+1 F-1 + Ra+2 PO₄-3

2(NH₄)₃PO₄ + 3RaF₂ -> 6NH₄F + Ra₃(PO₄)₂

N H P O Ra F N H P O Ra F
6 24 1 4 3 6 6 24 1 4 3 6
2(NH₄)₃PO₄ + 3RaF₂ -> 6NH₄F + Ra₃(PO₄)₂

2 3 6 1

X 12.04
x=4.014 moles

NH₄F 37 445.6/37=12.0423423423423423
14 4 19 12.04 moles of NH₄F

x/149=4.014
(NH₄)₃PO₄ 149
(14*3)+12+31+(16*4) x=598.1 g of (NH₄)₃PO₄

13
 Tips and Tricks
Brain Dumping- at the beginning of a test or quiz, write down all of the main materials or

equations that was covered. This is helpful because it acts as a reference point for any time

during the test. Brain dumping is not considered cheating, so use it to your advantage.

When using scientific notation, use this simple illustration to tell whether the number is to the

positive or negative power. The arrows indicate which way the decimal
+ <- X -> -
was moved. The X indicates the power of 10 the number is multiplied by.

When finding the amounts of Significant digits in a given, tick off SD’s above them. Then write

down the lowest amount of SD’s in the given on the side of the paper near the question number.

When rounding to the correct amount of SD, it may be helpful to draw a line under the number

you are rounding. This line shows how many SD this number will have. Then draw a line

15.2791573458 Round to 4 SD
15.2791573458 Greater than 5
Final answer:
15.80
between the new number and the rest os the number, if the number on the right on the line if 5 or

greater, round up the last digit and write the final answer.

14
 Appendix
Diatomic Pairs
Diatomic pairs are elements that, when alone in an equation, must be doubled.

H₂
A useful acronym for remembering these, is:
O₂
H onestly
O liver,
N₂ F rancine
N ever
F₂ Cl eans
Br ooms with
Cl₂ I odine

Br₂

I₂

Grams
= Moles
Molar Mass

15
 Table of Atomic Masses with Names and Symbols

NameChemical SymbolAtomic NumberNameChemical SymbolAtomic

NumberActiniumAc89MeitneriumMt109AluminumAl13MendeleviumMd101AmericiumAm95MercuryHg80AntimonySb51MolybdenumMo42ArgonAr18NeodymiumNd60Arsenic
As33NeonNe10AstatineAt85NeptuniumNp93BariumBa56NickelNi28BerkeliumBk97NiobiumNb41BerylliumBe4NitrogenN7BismuthBi83NobeliumNo102BohriumBh107OsmiumOs76Boro
nB5OxygenO8BromineBr35PalladiumPd46CadmiumCd48PhosphorusP15CalciumCa20PlatinumPt78CaliforniumCf98PlutoniumPu94CarbonC6PoloniumPo84CeriumCe58PotassiumK19Cesi
umCs55PraseodymiumPr59ChlorineCl17PromethiumPm61ChromiumCr24ProtactiniumPa91CobaltCo27RadiumRa88CopperCu29RadonRn86CuriumCm96RheniumRe75DubniumDb105Rho
diumRh45DysprosiumDy66RubidiumRb37EinsteiniumEs99RutheniumRu44ErbiumEr68RutherfordiumRf104EuropiumEu63SamariumSm62FermiumFm100ScandiumSc21FluorineF9Seaborg
iumSg106FranciumFr87SeleniumSe34GadoliniumGd64SiliconSi14GalliumGa31SilverAg47GermaniumGe32SodiumNa11GoldAu79StrontiumSr38HafniumHf72SulfurS16HassiumHs108Tan
talumTa73HeliumHe2TechnetiumTc43HolmiumHo67TelluriumTe52HydrogenH1TerbiumTb65IndiumIn49ThalliumTl81IodineI53ThoriumTh90IridiumIr77ThuliumTm69IronFe26TinSn50Kr
yptonKr36TitaniumTi22LanthanumLa57TungstenW74LawrenciumLr103UraniumU92LeadPb82VanadiumV23LithiumLi3XenonXe54LutetiumLu71YtterbiumYb70MagnesiumMg12Yttrium
Y39ManganeseMn25ZincZn30ZirconiumZr40

16
Periodic Table of Elements

17