How do we represent the chemical reaction in

a way that is convenient and easy to

understand?

Chemical equation, which is a symbolic way of

representing a chemical reaction in terms of chemical
formulas. In a chemical equation, formulas for the
reactants (starting substances in a chemical reaction) are
written on the left sides of the equation and formulas for
products are written on the right. The two sides of
equation are joined by an arrow ().
 Representation of a Chemical Reaction

Consider the reaction of colorless nitrogen monoxide and

oxygen gas to form red-brown nitrogen dioxide gas.

Step 1: Substitute chemical formulas for names, to obtain the

following expression.

nitrogen react oxygen to nitrogen

monoxide with gas form dioxide
gas gas

NO + O2  NO2
 Representation of a Chemical Reaction

Step 2: Balance numbers of atoms to obtain a chemical

equation.

In a balanced equation, for each element present, the total number

of atoms of the element is the same on both sides. A chemical
reaction involves simply a recombination of the atoms; none are
destroy and none are created.

2NO(g) + O2(g) 2NO2(g)

 Balancing a Chemical Equation
Balancing by Inspection: means to adjust
stoichiometric coefficients by trial and error until a
balanced condition is found.

Useful strategies for balancing equations

1 If an element occurs in only one compound on each
side of the equation, try balancing this element first.
2 When one of the reactants or products exists as the
free element, balance this element last.
3 In some reactions, certain groups of atoms (e.g.
polyatomic ions) remain unchanged. In such case
balance these groups as a unit.
 State of Matter
A complete chemical reaction also includes state of matter and
the reaction condition. In a chemical equation, the state of
matter or physical form of reactants and products are presented
through symbols in parentheses.

(g) - gas
(l) - liquid
(s) - solid (aq) aqueous (water)solution

2NO(g)
Therefore, + O2(g)
the chemical 2NO
equation of our first 2(g)
example: Consider
the reaction of colorless nitrogen monoxide and oxygen gas to
E.g Solid iron(III) oxide react with carbon monoxide to liberate
carbon dioxide gas and to form iron metal.

E.g. Write a balanced equation for the combustion of thiosalicylic

acid, C7H6O2S, used in the manufacture of indigo dyes.
 Reaction Conditions

An important aspect of modern chemical research involves

working out the condition for a reaction. The condition of the
reaction is written above or below the arrow in an equation. 
means that a high temperature is required.

E.g. 
2NaNO3(s) 2NaNO2(s) + O2(g)

CO2(g) + 2H2(g) — CH3OH(g)

ZnO, Cr2O3
 Review Questions
• What is a balanced equation?
• Why does a chemical equation has to be
balanced?
Chemical equations are written in terms of molecules or formula
units. But to plan for real reaction, you can’t count molecules; they
are too tiny. Since the moles can be converted to mass and the
number of moles involved in a reaction is proportional to the
coefficients in the balanced chemical equation, we can convert the
equation to the amounts we can weigh, or measure by some other
means.
Number of molecules

Stoichiometry

Amounts you can

measure e.g. mass
 Chemical Equations and Stoichiometry
The coefficients in the chemical equation
2H2(g) + O2(g)  2H2O(l)

mean that two molecules of H2 react with one molecules of O2 and

produce 2 molecules of H2O. A similar statement involving multiples
of these numbers of molecules is also correct.
2 x molecules H2 + x molecules O2  2x molecules H2O
Suppose that we let x = Avogadro’s number. Then x molecules
represents one mole. Thus the chemical equation also mean that
2 moleH2 + 1 mol O2  2 mol H2O
Therefore, on the atomic or molecular scale, the coefficients of a
balanced equation represent atoms and molecules. On the
macroscopic scale, the coefficients of a balanced equation represent
moles of atoms and molecules.
 Summary

Because moles can be converted to mass, we can also give a

mass interpretation of a chemical equation. We may interpret a
chemical equation either in terms of numbers of molecules (or
ions or formula units) or in terms of numbers of moles,
depending on our needs. We summarized these three
interpretations as follows:

2H2(g) + O2(g)  2H2O(l)

2 molecule H2 + 1 molecule O2  2 molecules H2O
2 mole H2 + 1 moleO2  2 moleH2O
2 x2.02g H2 + 32.0g O2  2 x18.0g H2O
E.g. How many grams of CO2 is produce by burning 2.50 mole of
CH4 in an excess of O2?
 Chemical Reactions in Solution

A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.

Type of solution: see handout.
The common type of solution is a solid dissolved in a liquid.
The solid that is dissolved is called solute, and the liquid in
which it is dissolved is called solvent.
The most common method of expressing the concentration of the
solute is Molarity which is defined as

Molarity(M) = amount of solute in mole __

volume of solution in liter
E.g 15mL of acetic acid, CH3COOH (d=1.048g/mL), is dissolved
in enough water to produce 500.0 mL of solution. What is the
molarity of acetic acid in the solution?

E.g. Commercial sulfuric acid is sold as a solution that is 96.7%

H2SO4(l) and 3.3% H2O by mass. What is the concentration in
molarity of this solution? Density of the solution is 1.84g/mL.
 Solution Dilution
~ all solute taken from the initial, more concentrated solution
appears in the final diluted solution.
~ When a solution is diluted, the amount of solute remains
constant between the initial(i) solution taken and the final(f)
solution produced. That is

MiVi =ni = nf = MfVf

MiVi = MfVf

E.g Compute the volume of concentrated (18.1M) H2SO4(aq)

required to produce 500mL of 0.30M H2SO4(aq).
E.g. A 15mL sample of 0.450 M K2CrO4 is diluted to 100.00 mL.
What is the concentration of the new solution?

E.g. How many mL of water must be added to 30.0 mL of 0.520 M

NaCl to produce a 0.195 M solution?
 Stoichiometry of Reactions in Solution
Molarity is used in stoichiometric calculation for reaction that
take place in solution.
E.g. A 25.00mL of 0.250M of K2CrO4(aq) is added to an excess
of AgNO3(aq). What mass of Ag2CrO4(s) will precipitate from the
solution?
 Limiting Reactant
When all the reactants are completely and simultaneously
consumed in a chemical reaction, the reactants are said to be in
stoichiometric proportions-in the mole ratios dictated by the
coefficients in the balanced equation. In reality, many reactions
are carried out using an excess amount of one reactant-more than
is actually needed according to stoichiometric. In such case, one
of the reactants may be completely consumed at the end of
reaction, whereas some amounts of other reactants will remain
unreacted.
The reactant that is completely consumed when a reaction goes to
completion and thereby limits the amount of product formed is
called the limiting reactant (or limiting reagent). Once one of
the reactants is used up, the reaction stops. This means that the
moles of product are always determined by the starting moles of
limiting reactant.
E.g. Reaction of sodium sulfate and carbon yield sodium sulfide and
carbon monoxide. What mass of CO(g) forms in the reaction of 30.0g
sodium sulfate and 20.0g carbon?

First write a balanced equation

Then determine the limiting reactant

•There are more than one ways to answer this. Here we are going
to use a somewhat tidies but maybe less confusing way to you. We
take each reactant in turn and ask how much product would be
obtained if each were totally consumed. The reactant that gives the
smaller amount of product is the limiting reactant.
 Other Practical Matters in Reaction Stoichiometry

Theoretical Yield, Actual Yield, and Percent Yield

For many chemical reactions the amount of the desired product
obtained is less than the theoretical amount. The percent yield is
defined as
the quantity of product
that is actually produced

actual yield of product x 100%

percent yield =
theoretical yield of product

the calculated quantity of product that

one expects from given quantities of reactants
E.g. What is the percentage yield if the reaction of 25.0g P4 with 91.5g
of Cl2 produces 104g PCl3?
 Consecutive Reactions, Simultaneous Reactions, and
Overall Reactions
Most of time it takes more than one steps to get desired product
~ Reactions that are carried out one after another in sequence to
yield a final product are called consecutive reactions.
~ In simultaneous reaction, two or more substances react
independently of one another in separate reactions occurring at the
same time.
~Any substance that is produced in one step and consumed in
another step of a multistep process is called an intermediate.
E.g. Purification of TiO2
2TiO2(impure) + 3C(s) +4Cl2(g) 2TiCl4(g) + CO2(g) + 2CO(g)
2x[ TiCl4(g) + O2(g) TiO2(s) +2Cl2(g)]_______
overall reaction: 3C(s) + 2O2(g) CO2(g) + 2CO(g)
E.g. How many gram of NaBr is produced if 55.85g of Fe is
consumed?
3Fe + 3Br2 3FeBr2
3FeBr2 + Br2 Fe3Br8
Fe3Br8 + 4Na2CO3  8NaBr + 4CO2 + Fe3O4
Overall reaction 3Fe + 4Br2 + 4Na2CO3  8NaBr + 4CO2 + Fe3O4
 
 
E.g Simultaneous reaction
Magnalium alloys contain 70% Al and 30.0% Mg by mass. How
many grams of H2(g) are produce in the reaction of a 0.710g
sample of this alloy with excess HCl(aq)?