Formulae,Stoichiometry and The Mole Concept

FORMULAE AND CHEMICAL EQUATIONS:

1. The following is an example of a balanced chemical equation with state

symbols.
Na2CO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → 2NaCl(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
(a) Identify the state symbols in the equation above, stating what each of
them means.
(b) Rewrite the above chemical equation as a word equation.
(c) Write balanced chemical equations for each of the following
reactions.
(i) Sodium chloride + sulfuric acid → sodium sulfate +
hydrogen chloride
(ii) Sodium + water → sodium hydroxide + hydrogen gas
(iii) Calcium carbonate → calcium oxide + carbon dioxide
(iv) Potassium bromide + chlorine → bromine + potassium
chloride
(v) Nitrogen + hydrogen → ammonia
(vi) Magnesium + nitric acid → magnesium nitrate + hydrogen
gas
2. (a) Are the following statements about balanced equations ‘True’ or
‘False’? Circle the appropriate choice.
(i) The formulae of all reactants and products are shown.
True/False
(ii) The number of reactants and products are always equal.
True/False
(iii) The number of atoms in each element of the reactants is equal to
the number of atoms in each element of the products.
True/False
(iv) There is always more than one reactant in a reaction.
True/False
(v) There is always more than one product in a reaction.
True/False
(vi) The net charge of the reactants and the net charge of the
products are always equal.
True/False
(a) Balance the following equations by adding numbers, where
necessary, in the blanks.
(i) ____l2+ ____ N2H4 → ____ Hl + _____ N2
(ii) ____Li+ ____ N2 → _____ Li3N
(iii) ____ CS2+ ____O2 → ____ CO2 + _____ SO2
(iv) ____Mg + ____ N2 → ____ Mg3N2
 (v) ____CH4 + ____ H2O → ____ CO + _____ H2
3. Write balanced ionic equations, including state symbols, for each of the
following reactions.
(a) Sodium hydroxide reacts with sulfuric acid to give sodium sulfate
and water.
(b) Barium chloride reacts with sulfuric acid to give solid barium sulfate
and hydrochloric acid.
(c) Magnesium reacts with nitric acid to give magnesium nitrate.
(d) Solid copper(II) carbonate reacts with nitric acid to give copper(II)
nitrate, carbon dioxide gas and water.

STOICHIOMETRY AND THE MOLE CONCEPT

1. Hydrated compounds contain water. An example is hydrated
magnesium sulfate, MgSO4.7H2O.
(a) Calculate the percentage by mass of water in MgSO4.7H2O.
(b) Another example is hydrated zinc nitrate. Calculate the mass of
water that is contained in 5.24 g of Zn(NO3)2.6H2O.
(c) Find the value of n in AlCl3.nH2O, given that the percentage by
mass of water in hydrated aluminium chloride is 44.7%.
2. The relative atomic masses of Fe and Cl are 56 and 35.5
respectively. The relative molecular mass of water is 18.
(a) Define relative atomic mass.
(b) Define relative molecular mass. How is it related to relative
atomic mass?
(c) A hydrated compound, FeCl3.XH2O, contains an unknown
amount of water of crystallization. Given that 34.96 g of FeCl3.
XH2O contains 8.72 g of water, find x. Hence or otherwise,
calculate the relative molecular mass of the hydrated compound.
3. Water in the water reservoir of an electric steam iron turns into steam
during ironing.
(a) Suppose a n electric iron contains 100 ml of water. How many
moles of water molecules are there in the water? State any
assumptions that are made.
(b) State Avogadro’s Law.
(c) Under what conditions will a mole of gas occupy a volume of 24
dm3?
(d) What is the volume of steam that would be obtained if all the
water in the reservoir is converted? For a given mass of water,
compare its volume in the gaseous state to that in the liquid state.
State any assumptions made.
4. Calculate at r.t.p.,
(a) the volume occupied by 10.6 g of helium, He;
 (b) the number of moles of ammonia (NH3) molecules in 3.6 dm3 of
the gas;
(c) the mass of 840 cm3 of carbon monoxide, CO.
5. Find the formulae of the following:
(a) A substance which consists of 70.0% iron and 30.0% oxygen by
mass
(b) A substance which has a composition by mass of 14.12% carbon,
2.35% hydrogen and chlorine making up the remainder
(c) A compound which is obtained when 1.16 g of hydrogen is
combined with 9.28 g of oxygen
(d) An ionic compound made up of K+ and Cr2O ions
(e) An ionic compound made up of Fe3+ and OH ions
(f) An ionic compound made up of Al3+ and SO ions, as well as
some water of crystallization (The water of crystallization
accounts for 45.7% by mass of the compound.)
6. Compound X has a composition by mass of 40.00% carbon, 6.67%
hydrogen and 53.33% oxygen.
(a) Determine the empirical formula of compound X.
(b) Given that 0.20 mol of X has a mass of 12.0g, determine its
molecular formula.
7. Calculate the final concentrations, in mol/dm3, of the following
solutions.
(a) The solution obtained by dissolving 10.3 mmol of glucose in
10cm3 of water
(b) The solution obtained when 3.80 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
pellets are dissolved in 0.5 dm3 of water
(c) The final solution obtained when an additional 160 mg of
sodium hydroxide pellets is added to 10 cm3 of the NaOH
solution obtained in part (b)
(d) An HCl solution with a concentration of 0.0073 g/cm3
(e) The final solution obtained when 90 cm3 of deionised water is
added to 10 cm3 of the HCl solution in part (d)
8. Solution X was prepared by dissolving 6.24 g of NaCl in 40 cm3 of
deionised water. Solution Y was prepared by dissolving 9.14 g of
FeCl2 in 60 cm3 of deionised water.
(a) What are the ions present in solutions X and Y?
(b) Calculate the concentrations (in mol/dm3) of the ions present in
each solution.
(c) Both solutions were mixed together. Find the new concentrations
of the ions present in the new solution.
9. (a) In an experiment, 3.51 g of iron powder is burnt in excess oxygen
to produce iron(III) oxide, Fe2O3.
(i) Construct a balanced equation, with state symbols, for the
above reaction.
 (ii) If 4.35 g of iron(III) oxide was obtained, calculate the
percentage yield of the reaction.
(c) When solid calcium carbonate is heated, it decomposes to form
calcium oxide and carbon dioxide.
(i) Construct a balanced equation, with state symbols, for
the above reaction.
(ii) In an experiment, 28.12 g of calcium carbonate was
heated to form 5.24 dm3 of carbon dioxide, as measured
at room temperature and pressure. Calculate the
percentage yield of the reaction.
(d) Fred performed the following experiment, and recorded all the
data in his notebook. However, he accidentally spilled some ink
over his notebook, covering some of his data.

Fred 22.05.2012
Zinc is reacted with copper (II) oxide, to form copper and zinc
oxide, as shown in the following equation:
Zn + CuO → ZnO + Cu
Mass of Zn used = 12.8q (in excess)
Mass of CuO used =
Mass of Cu formed = 1.87 g
Percentage yield of Cu = 89.7 %

Using the visible information, calculate the mass of CuO that Fred had used.

10. Some metals, such as iron, can form more than one type of ion in
compounds. Certain chemicals are able to change one type of ion to
another. For example, Fe2+ ions can be converted into Fe3+ ions by
manganate(VII) (MnO ) ions, according to the following equation:
MnO + 5Fe2+ + 8H+ → Mn2+ + 5Fe3 + 4H2O
(a) In the laboratory, potassium manganate(VII), KMnO4, is most
commonly used as the source of MnO ions. Which other ion is
obtained when KMnO4 is dissolved in water?
(b) A solution containing Fe2+ ions was made by dissolving 1.20 g of
FeCl2 in 25 cm3 of water. Calculate the minimum mass of
potassium manganate(VII) needed to completely convert all the
Fe2+ ions into Fe3+ ions.
(c) (i) How can the presence of Fe3+ ions be tested using common
reagent(s) available in the laboratory? Describe what will be
observed.
(ii) Construct a balanced ionic equation, with state symbols, for
this reaction.
11. Chlorine and iodine are both Group VII elements. As you will learn
later, chlorine is more reactive than iodine, and displaces iodine from
 an aqueous solution containing iodide ions. For example, when
chlorine gas is bubbled into a solution of potassium iodide, iodine
and potassium chloride are obtained.
(a) Write a word equation for the above reaction.
(b) Write a balanced chemical equation for the above reaction.
(c) Construct an ionic equation for the reaction.
(d) If 16.1 g of Kl reacted, what will be the mass of KCl produced?
(e) Calculate the minimum volume of chlorine gas, at r.t.p., that is
required to produce 14.9 g of iodine.
(f) A solution was made by dissolving 4.15 g of potassium iodide in
50 cm3 of deionised water. 1.6 dm3 of chlorine gas, at r.t.p., was
then bubbled into the solution.
(i) Which of the two reactants is in excess?
(ii) Calculate the concentration (in mol/dm3) of the
potassium chloride solution obtained at the end of the
reaction.
(g) A sample of potassium iodide is contaminated by some
unreactive solid. When 8.09 g of the contaminated potassium
iodide was reacted with excess chlorine, 5.30 g of iodine was
obtained. Calculate the percentage purity of the potassium iodide
sample.
12. Ethene gas (C2H4) burns in excess oxygen to give carbon dioxide gas
and steam.
(a) Write a balanced chemical equation with state symbols for the
above reaction.
(b) In an experiment, 20 cm3 of ethane gas was burnt in 100 cm3 of
oxygen. Calculate the volumes of carbon dioxide gas and steam
that was formed. All the volume measurements were carried out
at the same temperature and pressure.

CHALLENGING SEGMENT
1. Mr Low asked his class to estimate the number of grains in 250 g of
rice. The following shows responses given by two of his students:
 Bernard Jiakai

Firstly, I measured the mass of five The mass of 30

different grains of rice. randomly chosen grains
Grain 1 17.7 mg of rice was measured
and found to be 0.5525
Grain 2 18.2 mg g.
Grain 3 18.4 mg
The number of grains of
Grain 4 14.9 mg rice in 250 g can thus be
estimated by:
Grain 5 17.2 mg (250 ÷ 0.5525) × 30.

The average mass, mave, of a single

grain of rice can then be found.
Finally, the number of grains of rice
in 250 g can be estimated by
250/mave

(a) What are the values of the estimations found by the two students
above? Which of the two values do you think is more accurate?
Comment o n the two methods that are used.
(b) Assume that a person consumes on average 250 g of rice a day.
Given that one mole of matter contains NA = 6 × 1023 particles of
matter, express the average number of moles of grains of rice that is
consumed by a person per day. Hence or otherwise, calculate the
molar mass of rice.
(c) Singapore has a population of approximately 4 500 000. Express this
number in dozens, millions and moles. Which of these three units is
the most appropriate for stating the population of Singapore?
(d) Calculate the number of years that is required for the entire
population of Singapore to consume one mole of rice. State any
assumptions that you have made.
2. The following reactions involve reactants and/or products that are
probably unfamiliar to you. Nonetheless, the rules for balancing
equations remain the same no matter how complex the substances might
be. Balance the following equations by adding numbers, where
necessary, in the blanks.
(i) _____ B2H6 + ______ NH3 → ____ B3H6N3 _____ H2
(ii) _____ Pt + ______ HNO3 +_____ HCl → _____ H2PtCl6+ _____
NO2 + _____ H2O
(iii) _____ l2 + ______ HClO4 + _____ O3 → _____ l(ClO4)3 + ______
H2O
(iv) _____ Ag + _____ HNO3 → _____ AgNO3 + _____ H2O + ______
NO + _____ NO2
 (v) ______ OsO4 + _____ CO → _____ Os3(CO)12 + _____ CO2

3. Nitrogen gas condenses at −196 ℃ to form a colourless, odourless, inert,

non-corrosive and non-flammable liquid.
(a) Suggest applications for liquid nitrogen, based on its properties
described above.
(b) (i) Liquid nitrogen has a density of 808.6 kg/m3. What is the mass of
Vl litres of liquid nitrogen?
(ii) A given volume, Vl litres, of liquid nitrogen boils to give Vg litres
of nitrogen gas, measured at r.t.p. Calculate Vg, leaving your answer
in terms of Vl. Hence, state the ratio Vg/Vl.

(c) Liquid nitrogen has to be transported in special cylinders. These

cylinders are similar to thermos flasks, except that there are
additional pressure relief safety valves. Explain why these special
cylinders are required.
(d) Safety regulations state that cylinders of liquid nitrogen MUST NOT
be accompanied in lifts. Instead, two people should be used when
transporting cylinders of liquid nitrogen; one to load and the other to
receive at the destination floor. Based on your answer to (b) (ii),
explain the rationale for this rule.
4. Ethanol, C2H5OH, can be produced by the fermentation of glucose,
C6H12O6, by yeast in the absence of oxygen. Carbon dioxide is also
produced during this reaction.
(a) Write a balanced chemical equation for the above reaction.
(b) Paul, a chemist, dissolved some glucose in 20 cm3 of deionised water
in a conical flask. If the resultant solution contained 1.50 mol/dm3 of
glucose, what was the mass of glucose added?
(c) Paul then added some yeast and sealed up the flask with a rubber
bung. Next, he inserted a gas syringe through the rubber bung, as
shown in the diagram below. The plunger of the gas syringe was at
the zero mark at the start of the experiment. The set-up was
maintained at 25 ℃ under atmospheric pressure. After several days,
Paul noticed that the plunger of the gas syringe was at the 79.8-cm3
mark.
(i) Calculate the concentration of glucose, in mol/dm3, at that
moment.
(ii) Calculate the mass of ethanol that had been produced.
(d) Paul carried out some other experiments to demonstrate that ethanol
has some properties that are similar to those of water. Firstly, a small
amount of sodium was carefully reacted with water to form sodium
hydroxide and a colourless, odourless gas. When a burning splint
was held at the mouth of a test tube containing this gas, a ‘pop’
sound was heard.
 (i) Identify the gas that was produced.
(ii) Hence, write a balanced chemical equation, including state
symbols, for the above reaction.
(e) Next, Paul added 124 mg of sodium to a beaker containing ethanol in
excess. A product S was formed, and a gas having the same
properties as in (d) was also given off.
(i) Based on the similar reaction of sodium with water, deduce the
formula of S.
(ii) Write a balanced chemical equation for the above reaction.
(iii) Calculate the percentages by mass of the various elements
present in S. Give your answers correct to one decimal place.
(iv) Given that 0.323 g of S was obtained, calculate the percentage
yield.
5. Gas B is a hydrocarbon, which means that a molecule of B consists only
of hydrogen and carbon atoms. Under certain conditions, one molecule
of B reacts with a molecule of hydrogen gas to form a single gaseous
product. P.
(a) Is P also a hydrocarbon? Justify your response.
(b) (i) A sample of P burns in excess oxygen to form 1.529 g of carbon
dioxide and 0.782 g of steam only. Find the empirical formula of P.
(ii) Given that a sample of P has a volume of 208.6 cm3, at r.t.p.,
before combustion, deduce the molecular formula of P.
(c) (i) Under reaction conditions, 187.2 cm3 of B reacted completely
with 4.8 mg of hydrogen to form 139.2 mg of P. Deduce the
molecular formula of B.
(ii) Hence, write a balanced equation for the reaction, including state
symbols.
(iii) State the volume of P that was formed under the reaction
conditions. Justify your answer.

(a) (i) Magnesium oxide

(ii)

Mg N
Mass of element/g 72 28
No. of moles =3 =2
Simplest whole no. ratio 3 2
 Therefore, the empirical formula of the compound is Mg3N2.

(iii) The N= N bond is very strong. Hence, a high temperature is necessary to

provide the large amount of energy required to break it for the reaction to take
place.

(b) For experiment 1, a brown deposit (copper) is formed on the magnesium

strip. The blue solution slowly changes to colourless.

Mg + Cu(NO3)2 → Cu + Mg(NO3)2

For experiment 2, no visible change is observed.

For experiment 3, bubbles are formed around the magnesium strip. A colourless,
odourless gas (hydrogen) is evolved. The colour of the solution remains
unchanged.

Mg + 2HNO3 → H2 + Mg(NO3)2

6. (a) (i) A grey deposit (iron) is formed on the aluminium strip. The pale-green
solution slowly loses its colour.

2Al + 3FeSO4 → Al2(SO4)3 + 3Fe

(ii) When aluminium is exposed to air, a thin surface layer of aluminium

oxide is formed. This oxide layer protects the aluminium from reacting
with other reagents. Hence, no reaction took place in experiment 1. In
experiment 2, this surface layer of aluminium oxide is removed by the
sandpaper and aluminium is now exposed to other reagents. When
aluminium comes into contact with aqueous iron(II) sulfate, aluminium
displaces iron from the solution because aluminium is more reactive than
iron.

(iii) Sodium is more reactive than aluminium; thus aluminium is not able
to displace sodium from the solution. Hence, no reaction occurred.

(b) Aluminium is used to make aircraft bodies because it is light and corrosion
resistant. (Other uses are acceptable.)

7. (a) When heated, the green copper(II) carbonate decomposes to black copper
oxide and carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide gas evolved gives a white
precipitation with limewater.

(b) Copper(II) carbonate decomposes faster than zinc carbonate which

decomposes faster than magnesium carbonate. Magnesium is more reactive than
zinc which is in turn more reactive than copper. Thus, magnesium carbonate is
the most stable and copper(II) carbonate is the least stable of the three
carbonates.

(c) ZnCO3 → ZnO + CO2

Relative formula mass of zinc carbonate = 65 + 12 + 3(16) = 125

No. of mol of zinc carbonate = 1.25 ÷ 125 = 0.01

No. of mol of zinc oxide = 0.01

Relative formula mass of zinc oxide = 65 + 16 = 81

Mass of zinc oxide formed = 0.01 × 81 = 0.81 g

8. (a) I will first place some iron filings in the copper(II) sulfate solution and wait
for some time. Observations: The blue colour of the solution gradually fades and
a brown deposit is formed on the iron filings.

Equation: Fe(s) + Cu2+(aq) → Cu(s) + Fe2(aq)

Next, I will place some copper turnings in the iron(II) sulfate solution and wait
for some time.

No visible change is observed.

Iron can displace copper from copper(II) sulfate solution but copper cannot
displace iron from iron(II) sulfate solution. This shows that iron is more reactive
than copper.

(b) (i) Copper is unreactive.

(ii) Copper is used to make electrical wires because it has a high electrical
conductivity

9. (a)

Fe O
Mass of element/g 0.69 0.952 – 0.69 = 0.262
No. of moles . .
= 0.012 32 = 0.016 38
Simplest ratio 1 1.33
Simplest whole no. ratio 3 4
 Therefore, the empirical formula of the compound is Fe3O4.

(b) Fe3O4(s) + 4CO(g) → 3Fe(s) + 4CO2(g)

(c) Let the average oxidation state of Fe be x.

3(x) + 4(−2) = 0

Average oxidation state of Fe = x = 2.67 (3 s.f.)

Challenging segment

1. (a) Magnesium carbonate will decompose first on heating.

(b) (i) CaMg(CO3)2 + 4HCl → CaCl2 + MgCl2 + 2CO2 + 2H2O

(ii) No. of moles of CO2 given off = 0.48 ÷ 24 = 0.02

No. of moles of CaMg(CO3)2 present = 0.02 ÷ 2 = 0.01

Relative formula mass of CaMg(CO3)2 = 40 + 24 + 2[12 + 3(16)] = 184

Mass of CaMg(CO3)2 in sample = 0.01 × 184 = 1.84 g

.
% purity = × 100% = 92%
.

.
2.(a) No. of mol of KMnO4 used = × 0.0200 = 0.000 49 = 4.9 × 10

(b) No. of mol of MnO = No. of mol of KMnO4 = 4.9 × 10

5 mol of Fe2+ reacts with 1 mol of MnO

No. of mol of Fe2+ present in conical flask = 5 × 4.9 × 10 = 2.45 × 10

(c) No. of mol of Fe present in wire = No. of mol of Fe2+ = 2.45 × 10

Mass of Fe = 2.45 × 10 × 56 = 0.1372 g

.
Percentage purity = × 100% = 94.6 % (3 s.f.)
.

(c) If the concentration of potassium manganate(VII) solution was

changed to 0.200 mol/dm3, the results will be less accurate. This
is because with a higher concentration of potassium
manganate(VII) solution, the volume of potassium
 manganate(VII) solution needed for the titration will be reduced
(in this case it will be around 2.5 cm3). As the burette
measurements are only accurate to 0.05 cm3, the error will be
much higher when the volume of potassium manganate(VII)
solution used is small. Hence, the percentage purity calculated
will be less accurate if 0.200 mol/dm3 potassium manganate(VII)
solution was used.

10.3 Challenging segment

1.(a) Molar mass of nitrogen = 2 × 14 = 28 g/mol

Molar mass of oxygen = 2 × 16 = 32 g/mol

Mass of one mole of the sample of air = (0.78 × 28) + (0.21 × 32) + (0.01 × 40)

= 28.96 g

(b) The volume of one mole of gas at room temperature and pressure is 24 dm3.

Density of one mole of the sample of air = 28.96 ÷ 24 = 1.21 g/dm3 (3s.f.)