Unit 6: “Chemical Reactions and Stoichiometry” – Chapters 11-12

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INTRODUCTION:            Chemistry isn’t interesting until we understand chemical reactions.  There are a vast number of chemical reactions.  In Chapter 11 we will encounter a small number of these.  Because there are so many reactions it is helpful to categorize and classify some of these reactions.  We will learn about several general classifications for various types of chemical reactions.  These chemical reactions are written in chemical equations, which are a shorthand description of the rearrangement of the reaction components to form new product compounds.  Chemical equations contain a significant amount of information about the chemical reactions that they describe.  For example a balanced chemical equation tells a chemist about the ratio of reacting substances to products formed.  From the chemical equation a chemist can determine precise amounts of chemicals to use in order to complete the reaction.  The amounts of reactants and products in a chemical equation are related to each other by the whole number coefficients in the balance equation.  These whole numbers indicate the number of particles or moles that react and are formed.  However, we measure reactants and products in a chemical reaction in terms of mass. Stoichiometry is the calculation of quantities in chemical equations interchanging between mass and moles.  Whenever chemists produce chemicals whether for chemical industry or in organic synthesis, they make sure that they have the appropriate amounts of reactants in order to produce the desired amount of products at the minimum cost.  Stoichiometry is the essential mathematical tool of the chemist to determine these quantities. But by the end of this unit you should have a basic understanding of chemical reactions, and how to measure and predict the quantities involved in a reaction.

OBJECTIVES:  As you study this unit, you should be able to do the following:

  1. Interpret the symbols involved in a chemical reaction including identifying reactants and products in a chemical reaction.  (11.1)

  2. Balance chemical equations employing a variety of methods.  (11.1)

  3. Identify a combination, decomposition, single-replacement, double-replacement, and combustion reactions.  (11.2)

  4. Be able to predict the products of a combination, decomposition, single-replacement, double-replacement, or combustion reaction, given the reactants.  (11.2)

  5. Use the activity series of metals to predict whether a single-replacement reaction will occur.  (11.2)

  6. Predict the product of a double-replacement reaction in which a precipitate is formed and write this equation as a net ionic equation.  (11.3)

  7. Calculate chemical quantities from balanced chemical equations using units of moles, mass, representative particles and volume (gases at STP).  (12.2)

  8. Draw atomic level pictures that represent chemical reactions in terms of proportions of reactants and products including states, types and formulas of compounds. (GIAs)

  9. Identify the limiting reagent in a reaction and to quantify the amount of excess reactant(s) using either atomic level pictures or numerical stoichiometric quantities.  (12.3 and GIAs)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES: 

To learn about objectives 1-6: 

Quiz on this material will be on .  Chapter 11 homework questions will be due the same day.

To learn about objectives 7-9:

To make sure you understand the objectives for this unit:

This Unit concludes with a performance assessment lab exercise.  Click here to get the assignment.  Click here to see what the write up should look like.

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