Scientific Tutor

What is the lesson about?

This lesson is all about the different units you can convert between when using chemical equations. If you put so much gasoline in a car how many revolutions can you expect it to perform based on the volume of the engine or how many miles can you go? If you want to bake so many cookies, then how much butter will you need in grams? This lesson allows you to answer questions like that.

Why is it critical to understand?

Stoichiometry is used very widely in chemistry because so many times we have to convert back to simple units like moles in order to form and understanding of how chemical equations work or what we want to happen. However, the real power of stoichiometry lies in its ability to predict the future. We are an organism that puts a high price on the ability to predict the future and things like stoichiometry is one of our greatest tools. It helps us predict things like planning how to build a community. How much water will it need, how many kilograms of lumber for housing, how much fertilizer can we make for the plants. Fundamentally all these questions go back to chemistry stoichiometry. Try to keep that in mind as you are grinding through the more abstract examples and practice problems in this lesson.

What should you know before attempting this lesson?

If you have trouble in this lesson go back to sections on Unit Conversions, Calculating the Molar Mass of Compounds, and Grams to Moles Conversions.

New Learning Sections:

—> Stoichiometry Conversion Ratios

—> Using Stoichiometry in Conversions

—> Combining Stoichiometry and Molar Mass

—> Limited Reactant (reagent)

—> Percent Yield

Reference Pages:

—> Standard Periodic Table

—> Stoichiometry Conversion Map

Worksheets: