7.1: Chapter Introduction

Introduction to Chemistry & the Environment · LibreTexts

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    From LibreTexts, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, as the source states it; its equations are written in TeX, which the PDF shows typeset. This page at LibreTexts.

    Quantities in Chemistry

    So far, we have talked about chemical reactions in terms of individual atoms and molecules. Although this works, most of the reactions occurring around us involve much larger amounts of chemicals. Even a tiny sample of a substance will contain millions, billions, or a hundred billion billions of atoms and molecules. How do we compare amounts of substances to each other in chemical terms when it is so difficult to count to a hundred billion billion?

    Actually, there are ways to do this, which we will explore in this chapter. In doing so, we will increase our understanding of stoichiometry, which is the study of the numerical relationships between the reactants and the products in a balanced chemical reaction.

    Table 7.1A: How to approach solving problems.
    When Approaching Problems:
    1. Write down what you know (include all compound labels and units!)
    2. Write down what you need to find (include all compound labels and units!)
    3. Evaluate how the two quantities are related and come up with a ballpark estimate (ie should the answer be larger or smaller? What makes sense?)
    4. Write our your conversion factor(s).
    5. Do the math! (Make sure that the proper units cancel and that you are left with what you want to find.)
    6. Check your work and make sure it makes sense with your ballpark estimate.

    This page titled 7.1: Chapter Introduction was last modified on Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:39:57 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Hadeel Abozenadah, Adam Bishop, Scott Bitner, Kaysha Lehman and Patricia Flatt.