Chemists' guide to Stoich
by Justin Sims
Step 1: IDENTIFYING THE TYPE OF REACTION/ BALANCING EQUATIONS/ IUPAC NAMES
SYNTHESIS: putting two or more substances together to form one
DECOMPOSITION: breaking one substance into two or more other substances
SINGLE REPLACEMENT: a free element replaces a similar element in a compound
DOUBLE REPLACEMENT: two elements in two compounds switch places
COMBUSTION: the burning of a substance with oxygen. the products of the combustion of a hydrocarbon (hydrogen and oxygen) are always carbon dioxide and water.
Okay now that we all know what the FIVE reactions are we can find out what type the given reaction was.
CALCIUM CARBONATE AND NITRIC ACID
the two are obviously two compounds with the similar elements within the compounds being Calcium and Hydrogen so this is a double replacement reaction and also an acid base reaction which we have yet to learn...( I should get props for doing this without even learning the content yet *inserts smiley emoji*)
NEXT IS BALANCING THE EQUATION. To write the equation properly you have to find the charges of the two elements within the compounds and figure out how many subscripts are on each element. Then you have to balance the equation on both sides by using coefficients. It all comes out to look like the below equation
Ca(Co3) (s) +2HNO3 (aq) ---->Ca(NO3)2 (s)+CO2(g)+ H2O(l)
FINALLY FOR THIS PORTION IS THE IUPAC NAME FOR THE REACTANTS AND PRODUCTS
(basically what the name of the reactants and products are.) It comes out as the below.
CALCIUM CARBONATE AND NITRIC ACID react to make CALCIUM NITRATE, CARBON DIOXIDE, AND WATER
END OF PART ONE.