Ch.

12 Moles Calculation
- Overall aim: Connect the relationship between “amount of substance” and
mass

1. What is “amount of substance”?

- Amount of substance:

2. Mole Concept
Definition of 1 mole: 6.02
! x!1023 formula units
e.g. 1 mol of oxygen atoms :
e.g. 1 mol of oxygen molecules:
e.g. 1 mol of carbon dioxide molecule:
e.g. Number of moles of oxygen atoms in 1 mol of CO
! 2:
e.g. Number of atoms in 1 mol of CO! 2:

- 6.02x!1023 is defined as the Avogadro Constant, which is commonly denoted as

L.
- Number of formula units in 1 mol of that substance: L (= )

3. Relationship between mass and moles

Definition of molar mass: Mass of 1 mol of that substance (Unit: g/mol or g!mol −1)

Consider a balance:

∴ Mass of 6.02x1023 1H atoms = _____g , i.e. mass of 1 mol of 1H atoms: _____g

Hence, we can deduce that:
Mass of 1 mol of 2H:
Mass of 1 mol of 37Cl:
Mass of 1 mol of CO2:
Mass of 1 mol of K3[Fe(CN )6]:
We can see the relationship:
What about the mass of 2 mol of K3[Fe(CN )6]?
Mass of 2 mol of K3[Fe(CN )6] =
Mass of 0.5 mol of K3[Fe(CN )6] =
We can see the relationship =

Conclusion:
1.
2.
3.

Calculation Practise:
1. Calculate the number of formula units of 2 mol of aluminum chloride. (2)
2. Calculate the number of Cl atoms in 2 mol of aluminum chloride. (2)
3. Calculate the number of moles of K atoms in 610g of potassium sulphate. (4)
4. Calculate the mass of 3.5 mol of glucose. (3)

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4. Concept of percentage by mass
Consider CO2 as an example.
Relative atomic mass of carbon =
Relative atomic mass of oxygen =
Relative molecular mass of CO2 =

What percentage by mass does carbon occupies in CO2?

What percentage by mass does oxygen occupies in CO2?

Conclusion:

Calculation Practise:
1. Calculate the percentage by mass of O in copper(II) sulphate-5-water. (2)
2. The bromide of a metal M has the formula MBr2, containing 56.43% by mass of
M. Calculate the relative atomic mass of M. Hence, deduce which element M is,
according to the Periodic Table. (4)
3. An alkali metal reacts to form its sulphate. If the alkali metal occupies 44.9% by
mass in 1 mol of that substance, deduce the chemical formula of the sulphate. (5)
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5. Empirical formula and molecular formula of compounds
Empirical formula V/S Molecular formula V/S Ionic formula
- Empirical formula: The chemical formula showing the simplest ratio of
elements in the compound
- Molecular formula: The chemical formula showing the actual number of
elements in a molecular substance
- Ionic formula: The chemical formula showing the actual number of ions in an
ionic compound

e.g. For glucose (C6 H12O6):

Empirical formula:
Molecular formula:
Ionic formula:

e.g. For ammonium nitrate:

Empirical formula:
Molecular formula:
Ionic formula:

Concept Check:
1. A compound cannot have both ionic formula and molecular formula. (T/F)
2. The molecular formula of sodium chloride is NaCl. (T/F)
3. All compounds consisting of only non-metals have molecular formula,. (T/F)
4. All covalent compounds consists molecular formula. (T/F)

**** Determination of empirical formula and molecular formula of compounds

(DSE 常考, aim 4以上一定要識, 全港通常45%考生答到，識答就起碼頭50%）

Revisit: How many moles of carbon and oxygen atoms do 1 mol of carbon dioxide
molecule have?
Conclusion: If the empirical formula of carbon dioxide is CO2, mole ratio C:O =
1:2

Find the mole ratio of each of the elements in these compounds:

1. Glucose
2. Ammonia
3. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
4. Magnesium sulphate-7-water

By this concept, we can determine the empirical formula of a compound by finding

the mole ratio of the constituent elements. As the number of moles can be related
with mass, if we know the mass of the elements, we can find the empirical
formula.

STEPS FOR FINDING EMPIRICAL FORMULA**

1. Mass (in g) of each element
2. No. of moles of each element (________________________)
3. Empirical formula (____________________)

e.g. An oxide of copper is put into a test tube and is heated for 30 minutes with
hydrogen. If the sample turned from black to reddish brown after heating, find the
empirical formula of the sample.
Data given:
Mass of the test tube = 17.650g
Mass of test tube with sample = 18.256g
Mass of test tube with sample after heating = 18.132g

Representation 1:
Representation 2:

Follow-up Question:
(a) Compound A containing only carbon, hydrogen and oxygen burnt completely in
air to form carbon dioxide and water as the only products. 2.43g of A gave 3.96g of
carbon dioxide and 1.35g of water. Find the empirical formula of A. (5 marks)

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Finding molecular formula
Revisit:
Empirical formula: simplest ratio of elements
Molecular formula: actual number of elements
∴ If the empirical formula of a compound is CH2O, actual number of C, H, O can
be written as:
i.e. the molecular formula of CH2O can be written as:

- The molecular formula of a compound can be found if the relative molecular

mass is known.

e.g.
(b) If the relative molecular mass of A is 162.0, find the molecular formula of A. (2
marks)

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Exercise Question:
1. 5.60g of hydrated copper(II) sulphate CuSO4⋅ nH2O was heated to drive off the
water off crystallization. The white anhydrous copper(II) sulphate left was
3.59g. Deduce the value of n. (4 marks)

2. Compound Y was found to contain iron and oxygen only. If the percentage by
mass occupied by Fe and O is 70% and 30% respectively, find the ionic formula of
Y. (4 marks)

3. Caffeine is composed of 49.5% C, 5.15% H, 28.9% N and 16.5% O by mass and

has a molar mass of 195 gmol−1. Find the molecular formula of caffeine. (6 marks)

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6. Reacting masses and chemical equations
- A balanced equation shows the quantitative relationship of the reactants and
products in a reaction. The stoichiometric coefficients shows the mole ratio of
reactants and products involved in the reaction.
- Conservation of mass: total mass of products = total mass of reactants

e.g. Heating of zinc in air

1. Word equation:
2. Chemical equation:
3. If 1 mol of Zn is heated, ____mol of O is involved and ____mol of ZnO is
produced.

e.g. 8.51g of sodium is dropped into a beaker of excess water.

(a) State the observations seen during the reaction. (2)
(b) Write down the chemical formula of the reaction. (2)
(c) Find the mass of each of the products produced. (3)
(d) It is given that the beaker contains 100g of water. Find the concentration of the
alkali produced. (4)
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Limiting Reagents
Definition: The reactant that is used up completely in a reaction (i.e. the reactant
which limits the reaction)

e.g. Consider the reaction of zinc with silver nitrate.

(a) Find the chemical equation of the reaction. (2)
(b) If 1 mol of zinc and 1.5 mol of silver nitrate is prepared, which reactant is the
limiting reagent? (2)
(c) Find the mass of the metal produced. (2)

Theoretical yield, actual yield and percentage yield

Theoretical yield:
Actual yield:
Percentage yield:

e.g. Ethyne (C2 H2) reacts with bromine to form tetrabromoethane C2 H2 Br4. In an
experiment, 2.00g of ethyne reacted with 5.20g of bromine to produce 5.02g of
tetrabromoethane. Calculate the percentage yield. (8)

Hints:
2 marks for finding chemical equation
2 marks for for finding number of moles of each reactants
1 mark for stating the limiting reactant
2 marks for finding the theoretical yield
1 mark for computing the percentage yield
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Integrated Task:
(a) Haematite is known as the metal ore of A. State A and write down the
chemical formula of its extraction. Assume that no carbon monoxide is
involved in the reaction.
(b) If 400g of haematite is reacted with 30g of carbon, find the mass of iron
extracted. (Given that the percentage yield of Fe = 70%)
(c) The iron produced are sent to extract silver from silver nitrate solution. Find
the maximum amount of silver extracted if one of the product is Fe(NO3)2.
(given: percentage yield = 90%)
(d) State the reaction involved in (c) and state the observations.

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