Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Stoichiometry
Let's start with how to say this
word. Five syllables: STOY-KEE-
AHM-EH-TREE. It's a big word
that describes a simple idea.
Stoichiometry is the part of
chemistry that studies amounts of
substances that are involved
in reactions. You might be looking
at the amounts of substances
before the reaction. You might be
looking at the amount of material that is produced by the
reaction. Stoichiometry is all about the numbers.
All reactions are dependent on how much stuff you have.
Stoichiometry helps you figure out how much of a compound you
will need, or maybe how much you started with. We want to take
the time to explain that reactions depend on the compounds
involved and how much of each compound is needed.
Thermochemistry
There are two kinds of heat in chemistry. The first is caused by
physical activity. As you get more kinetic energy, there is more
activity in the system. This extra activity makes more molecular
collisions occur. The collisions create the heat. This happens
when you increase the pressure in a system. Chemical processes
cause the second type of heat. Instead of exciting a system and
feeling the heat, chemical bonds are made and broken, and the
energy is then released. A release of energy charges up the
system and the molecules bounce around faster, resulting in that
physical activity we just explained. The opposite can also happen.
Sometimes bonds are made and broken and energy is absorbed.
The system then gets colder as the temperature goes down.
Those emergency icepacks you see when people hurt their ankles
are good examples of chemical reactions that absorb energy.
Lesson organisation
This is intended as a class practical. It is best if the students work in pairs because setting up and starting the
experiment requires more than one pair of hands. One student can add the magnesium ribbon to the acid and
stopper the flask, while the other starts the stopclock. During the experiment, one student can take the readings
while the other records them. The experiment itself takes only a few minutes. But allow at least 30 minutes to give
students time to set up, take readings and draw graph.
Hydrogen gas (EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE) is generated in the experiment. Students should not have access to any
source of ignition.
Apparatus Chemicals
Eye protection Magnesium ribbon cut into 3 cm lengths
Each group of students will Dilute hydrochloric acid, 1M
need:
Conical flask (100 cm3) Refer to Health & Safety and
Single-holed rubber bung and Technical notes section below for
delivery tube to fit conical flask additional information.
(Note 1)
Trough or plastic washing-up
bowl (Note 2)
Measuring cylinders (100 cm3),
2
Clamp stand, boss and clamp
Stopwatch
Graph paper
Magnesium ribbon, Mg(s) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard. The magnesium ribbon should be clean and free from obvious
corrosion or oxidation. Clean if necessary by rubbing lengths of the ribbon with fine sandpaper to remove the layer
of oxidation.
Hydrochloric acid, HCl(aq) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard and CLEAPSS Recipe Book. The hydrochloric acid should be
about 1M for a reasonable rate of reaction. Each experiment run will need 50 cm 3. Though low hazard, eye
protection is necessary as you may get a spray as tiny bubbles burst.
Hydrogen gas, H2(g) (EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE) - see CLEAPSS Hazcard. Ensure that all naked flames are
extinguished, and that there are no other sources of ignition available to students.
1 The bungs in the flasks need to be rubber. Corks are too porous and will leak. The tube through the bung should
be a short section of glass, and then a flexible rubber tube can be connected.
2 Gas syringes can be used instead of troughs of water and measuring cylinders. But these are very expensive
and are probably best used by the teacher in a demonstration. Syringes should not be allowed to become wet, or
the plungers will stick inside the barrels.
Procedure
a Measure 50 cm3 of 1M hydrochloric acid using one of the measuring cylinders. Pour the acid into the 100
cm3 conical flask.
b Set up the apparatus as shown in the diagram. Half fill the trough or bowl with water.
c Fill the other measuring cylinder with water, and make sure that it stays filled with water when you turn it upside
down.
d When you are ready, add a 3 cm strip of magnesium ribbon to the flask, put the bung back into the flask as
quickly as you can, and start the stopwatch.
e Record the volume of hydrogen gas given off at suitable intervals (eg 10 seconds). Continue timing until no more
gas appears to be given off.
Teaching notes
The equation for the reaction is:
magnesium + hydrochloric acid → magnesium chloride + hydrogen
Mg(s) + 2HCl(aq) → MgCl2(aq) + H2(g)
Students follow the rate of reaction between magnesium and the acid, by measuring the amount of gas produced
at 10 second intervals.
3 cm of magnesium ribbon typically has a mass of 0.04 g and yields 40 cm 3 of hydrogen when reacted with excess
acid. 50 cm3 of 1M hydrochloric acid is a six-fold excess of acid.
In this reaction, the magnesium and acid are gradually used up. However the acid is in excess, so it is mainly the
loss of magnesium (surface area becomes smaller) that causes the change in the rate.
If a graph of volume (y-axis) against time (x-axis) is drawn, the slope of the graph is steepest at the beginning.
This shows that the reaction is fastest at the start. As the magnesium is used up, the rate falls. This can be seen
on the graph, as the slope becomes less steep and then levels out when the reaction has stopped (when no more
gas is produced).
The reaction is exothermic, but the dilute acid is in excess and the rise in temperature is only of the order of 3.5˚C.
There is some acceleration of the reaction rate due to the rise in temperature. Some students might notice the
flask becoming slightly warm and they could be asked how this would affect the rate of reaction, and how they
might adapt the experiment to make it a ‘fair test’.