Chapter 4: The Mole

• Atomic mass provides a means to count

atoms by measuring the mass of a sample
• The periodic table on the inside cover of the
text gives atomic masses of the elements
• The mass of an atom is called its atomic
mass
• When using atomic masses, retain a
sufficient number of significant figures so
the atomic mass data contributes only
slightly to the uncertainty of the result
• The molecular mass allows counting of
molecules by mass
• The molecular mass is the sum of atomic
masses of the atoms in the compounds
formula
– For example the molar mass of water, H2O, is
twice the mass of hydrogen (1.008) plus the
mass of oxygen (15.999) = 18.015
• Strictly speaking, ionic compounds do not
have a “molecular mass” because they don’t
contain molecules
• The mass of the formula unit is called the
formula mass
• Formula masses are calculated the same
way as molecular masses
– For example the formula mass of calcium
oxide, CaO, is the mass of calcium (40.08) plus
the mass of oxygen (15.999) = 56.08
• One mole of a substance contains the same
number of formula units as the number of
atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon-12
• One mole of a substance has a mass in
grams numerically equal to its formula mass
• The mass of one mole of a substance is also
called its molar mass
• One mole of any substance contains the
same number of formula units
• This number is called Avogadro’s number
or constant
1 mol formula units = 6.02 x 1023 formula units
• Counting formula units by moles is no
different than counting eggs by the dozen
(12 eggs) or pens by the gross (144 pens)
• Avogadro’s number is huge because atoms
and molecules are so small: a huge number
of them are needed to make a lab-sized
sample
• Avogadro’s number links moles and atoms,
or moles and molecules and provides an
easy way to link mass and atoms or
molecules
• Using water (molar mass 18.015) as an
example:
1 mole H2O  6.022 x 1023 molecules H2O
1 mole H2O  18.015 g H2O
18.015 g H2O  6.022 x 1023 molecules H2O
• Within chemical compounds, moles of
atoms always combine in the same ratio as
the individual atoms themselves so:
1 mole H2O  2 mole H
1 mole H2O  1 mole O
• Stoichiometry is the study of the mass
relationships in chemical compounds and
reactions
• A common use for stoichiometry is to relate
the masses of reactants needed to make a
compound
• These calculations can be solved using the
factor-label method and equivalence
relations relating molecular masses and/or
formula masses
• Example: How many grams of iron are in a
15.0 g sample of iron(III) oxide?
ANALYSIS: 15.0 g Fe2O3  ? g Fe
LINKS: 1 mol Fe2O3  2 mol Fe
1 mol Fe2O3  159.7 g Fe2O3
1 mol Fe  55.85 g Fe
SOLUTION:
15.0 g Fe2O3  1 mol Fe 2 O 3
159.9 g Fe 2 O 3  1 mol
2 mol Fe
Fe 2 O 3

 55.85 g Fe
1 mol Fe  10.5 g Fe
• The usual form for describing the relative
masses of the elements in a compound is a
list of percentages by mass
• This is called the percentage composition
or percentage composition by mass
• The percentage by mass is the number of
grams of the element in 100 g of the
compound and can be calculated using:
% element  mass of element
mass of whole sample  100%
• Example: A sample was analyzed and found
to contain 0.1417 g nitrogen and 0.4045 g
oxygen. What is the percentage composition
of this compound?
ANALYSIS: Find sample mass and calculate %
LINKS: whole sample = 0.5462 g
SOLUTION:
%N 0.1417 g N
0.5462 g sample  100%  25.94 %
%O 0.4045 g O
0.5462 g sample  100%  74.06 %
• Hydrogen peroxide consists of molecules
with the formula H2O2
• This is called the molecular formula
• The simplest formula for hydrogen peroxide
is HO and is called the empirical formula
• It is possible to calculate the empirical
formula for a compound from mass data
• The goal is to produce the simplest whole
number mole ratio between atoms
• Example: A 2.012 g sample of a compound
contains 0.522 g of nitrogen and 1.490 g of
oxygen. Calculate its empirical formula
ANALYSIS: We need the simplest whole number
mole ratio between nitrogen and oxygen
SOLUTION:
0.522 g N  14.01 g N  0.0373 mol N
1 mol N

1.490 g O  15.999 g O  0.0931 mol O

1 mol O

N 0 .0 3 7 3 O 0 .0 9 3 1  N1.00O 2.50
0 .0 3 7 3 0 .0 3 7 3

N1.00 2 O 2.50  2  N 2.00O5.00  N 2 O5

• Empirical formulas may also be calculated
indirectly
• When a compound made only from carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen burns completely in
pure oxygen only carbon dioxide and water
are produced
• This is called combustion
• Empirical formulas may be calculated from
the analysis of combustion information
• Example: The combustion of a 5.217 g
sample of a compound of C, H, and O gave
7.406 g CO2 and 4.512 g of H2O. Calculate
the empirical formula of the compound.
ANALYSIS: This is a multi-step problem. The
mass of oxygen is obtained by difference:
g O = 5.217 g sample – ( g C + g H )
The masses of the elements may then by used to
calculate the empirical formula of the
compound
SOLUTION:
7.406 g CO 2  12.011g C
44.009 g CO 2  2.022 g C
4.512 g H 2 O  2.0158 g H
18.015 g H 2 O  0.5049 g H
total mass of C and H  2.473 g
mass O  5.217 g - 2.527g  2.690 g
C : 2.022 g C  12.011 g C  0.1683 mol C
1 mol C

H : 0.5049 g H  1.008 g H  0.5009 mol H

1 mol H

O : 2.690 g O  15.999 g O  0.1681 mol O

1 mol O

C 0.1 683H 0.5 009O 0.1 681  C1.001H 2.980O1.000  CH3O

0.1 681 0.1 681 0.1 681
• The formula for ionic compounds is the
same as the empirical formula
• For molecules, the molecular formula and
empirical are usually different
• If the experimental molecular mass is
available, the empirical formula can be
converted into the molecular
• The molecular formula will be a common
multiplier times all the coefficients in the
empirical formula
• Example: The empirical formula of
hydrazine is NH2, and its molecular mass is
32.0. What is its molecular formula?
ANALYSIS: The molecular mass (32.0) is some
simple multiple of the mass calculated from the
empirical formula (16.03)
SOLUTION:
multiplier  16.03
32.0
 2.00
The correct formula is then
N12.00 H 22.00  N 2 H 4
• The coefficients of a balanced chemical
equation provide the mole-to-mole ratios for
the substances involved in the reaction
• Whenever a problem asks you to convert
between different substances, the
calculation usually involves a mole-to-mole
relationship
• How to detect unbalanced equations will be
covered shortly
• Example: If 0.575 mole of CO2 is produced
by the combustion of propane, C3H8, how
many moles of oxygen are consumed? The
balanced equation is:
C3H8 + 5 O2  3 CO2 + 4 H2O
ANALYSIS: Relating two compounds usually
requires a mole-to-mole ratio
SOLUTION:

0.575 mol C3 H 8  5 mol O 2

1 mol C3 H 8  2.88 mol O 2
• In many problems you will also need to
perform one or more mole-to-mass
conversions
• These types of stoichiometry problems are
summarized with the flowchart:
• Example: How many grams of Al2O3 are
produced when 41.5 g Al react?
2Al(s) + Fe2O3(s)  Al2O3(s) + 2 Fe(l)
ANALYSIS:
41.5 g Al  ? g Al2O3
SOLUTION:
grams Al  moles Al  moles Al 2 O 3  grams Al 2 O 3
41.5 g Al  26.98
1 mol Al
g Al  1 mol Al2 O 3
2 mol Al  1 mol Al2 O 3  78.45 g Al 2 O 3
102.0 g Al2 O 3
• Chemical equations provide quantitative
descriptions of chemical reactions
• Conservation of mass is the basis for
balancing equations
• To balance an equation:
1) Write the unbalanced equation
2) Adjust the coefficients to get equal numbers
of each kind of atom on both sides of the
arrow
• Guidelines for Balancing Equations:
1) Balance elements other than H and O first
2) Balance as a group any polyatomic ions that
appears unchanged on both sides of the arrow
3) Balance separately those elements that appear
somewhere by themselves
• As a general rule you should use the
smallest whole-number coefficients when
writing balanced chemical equations
• All reactions eventually use up a reactant
and stop
• The reactant that is consumed first is called
the limiting reactant because it limits the
amount of product that can form
• Any reagent that is not completely
consumed during the reactions is said to be
in excess and is called an excess reactant
• The computed amount of product is always
based on the limiting reagent
• Example: How many grams of NO can form
when 30.0 g NH3 and 40.0 g O2 react
according to:
4 NH3 + 5 O2  4 NO + 6 H2O
ANALYSIS: This is a limiting reactant problem
SOLUTION:

30.0 g NH3  171 mol NH3

.03 g NH3  4 mol NO
4 mol NH3  1 mol NO  52.9 g NO
30.01 g NO

40.0 g O 2  1 mol O 2
32.00 g O 2  4 mol NO
5 mol O 2  30.01 g NO
1 mol NO  30.01 g NO
O 2 is the limiting reagent and 30.01 g NO form
• The amount of product isolated from a
chemical reactions is almost always less
than the calculated, or maximum, amount
• The actual yield is the amount of the
desired product isolated
• The theoretical yield is the amount that
would be recovered if no loss occurred (the
calculated, maximum amount)
• The percentage yield is the actual yield as a
percentage of the theoretical yield
 percentage yield  actual yield
theoretical yield 100%

• When working with percentage yield:

– Remember they involve a measured (actual
yield) and calculated (theoretical yield) quantity
– The calculation may be done in either grams or
moles
– The result can never be a number larger than
100%