Use of Stoichiometry in Everyday Life Blog Post #3 Unit 3: Quantities in Chemical Reactions
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Examples of Stoichiometry in everyday life
During Unit 3, we looked at many different topics such as; stoichiometry, mole ratios, how to calculate moles, mass, mole ratios in equations and so much more. For this blog post, I will be discussing about how stoichiometry is used in everyday life. Stoichiometry is the study of the mass and amount in relationships between reactants and products in a chemical equation. In Unit 3 we used stoichiometry to determine many things such as determining the mass of an product. For example we are given CO2 + 2LiOH → Li2CO3 + H2O and the grams of CO2 is 8.8 x102 and the molar mass of LiOH is 23.95g/mol. We are told to find the mass of LiOH. To determine this we would first need to determine the moles of CO2 by using its molar mass and the grams given; nCO2= 8.80 x 102 g x 1 mol/44.01g. Once that has been converted, we take the number of moles for CO2 and use the coefficient of 2 in our balanced chemical equation to determine the moles of LiOH since LiOH has a coefficient of 2 in our equation. Once the moles are calculated for LiOH, we can now use the molar mass of LiOH to convert back to mass by using m= molar mass x moles, which will give us the mass of LiOH. We also used stoichiometry to determine limiting and excess reagents in a chemical reaction by using the mols giving and the coefficients in the equation.
The article "3 Examples of stoichiometry in daily Life", talks about the everyday activities such as baking, safety in cars and how to not get, all use stoichiometry. In baking, a recipe using cookies can use stoichiometry to determine the mass of reagents. If the recipe is making 10 cookies we need to find the mass of everything. We are given that the recipe needs 200 grams of flour, 2 eggs, 200 grams of butter and 1 cup of sugar. In order to find the mass we need a balanced chemical equation; 200 grams of flour + 2 eggs + 200 grams of butter + 1 cup of sugar →10 cookies. A new chemical equation needs to be made since we only have 1 egg which causes the equation to be incomplete. The new equation will be 100 grams of flour + 1 egg + 100 grams of butter + 1/2 cup of sugar → 5 cookies. The 5 cookies would be the mass of products which means the chemicals after the reaction that is the result of the union of the ingredients through a chemical equation. The second use of stoichiometry is safety in cars. In case of an accident, cars have airbags to protect people from getting hurt. Stoichiometry can be used to determine the amount of nitrogen gas that is produced in a matter of seconds in order for the bag to inflate, by impact that can help save people. The last example of how stoichiometry is used in everyday life is not getting lost. Rockets need stoichiometry to calculate the fuel, weight and materials that is needed in order for these rockets to fly up in space. In addition, it calculates the fuel and reaction of the satellite components in orbit. This global positioning system helps us so that we do not get lost. All these ordinary everyday examples use stoichiometry to determine mass and amounts produced.
After reading this article, I am amazed that stoichiometry has a major role in our everyday activities. Although it may not seem to be important, it is very important for determining the mass of certain things. I think that it is important for us to continue using stoichiometry for better accuracy of a masses and amounts needed. For example 500 cupcakes are needed for a annual fundraiser for exact masses and amounts we can use the ingredients given to determine how much cupcakes can be made in 1 batter. Stoichiometry is the study of mass and amounts between relationships of reactants and products in a chemical equation, in chemistry can it be used to determine the mass of products in a chemical reaction. My question is, how can stoichiometry help chemists to determine the mass in an experiment?