stoechiometrie

Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the quantitative relationships between reactants and products in chemical reactions. The term itself is derived from the Greek words "stoicheion," meaning element, and "metron," meaning measure. Essentially, stoichiometry provides a framework for calculating the amounts of substances involved in a chemical reaction.

The foundation of stoichiometry lies in the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. This means that the total mass of the reactants must equal the total mass of the products. To apply this principle, chemists use balanced chemical equations. A balanced equation represents a chemical reaction where the number of atoms of each element is the same on both the reactant and product sides. The coefficients in the balanced equation represent the molar ratios of the substances involved.

Using these molar ratios, one can predict the amount of product formed from a given amount of reactant, or conversely, determine the amount of reactant needed to produce a specific amount of product. This is crucial in various applications, from industrial chemical synthesis to laboratory experiments. Key concepts in stoichiometry include molar mass, moles, and limiting reactants. The limiting reactant is the substance that is completely consumed first in a reaction, thereby determining the maximum amount of product that can be formed. Understanding stoichiometry allows chemists to design and control reactions efficiently and accurately.