CHEM Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sodium Chloride
Document Summary
In a balanced reaction, both sides of the equation have the same number of elements. The stoichiometric coefficient is the number written in front of atoms, ions and molecules in a chemical reaction to balance the number of each element on both the reactant and product sides of the equation. Though the stoichiometric coefficients can be fractions, whole numbers are frequently used and often preferred. These stoichiometric coefficients are useful since they establish the mole ratio between reactants and products. 2na (s) + 2hcl (aq) " 2nacl (aq) + h 2(g) We can determine that 2 moles of hcl will react with 2 moles of na (s) to form 2 moles of nacl (aq) and 1 mole of h 2(g). If we know how many moles of na we start out with, we can use the ratio of 2 moles of nacl to 2 moles of.
