What is Stoichiometry?

Stoichiometry is the calculation based on a balanced chemical equation. With stoichiometry, both sides of the equation, the reactants and products, must be equal, according to the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Why is Stoichiometry Important?

Stoichiometry is important because it shows how many reactants an equation needs to get the desired product, and how many products will be produced from the reaction.

How is Stoichiometry Similar to Cooking?

Stoichiometry is similar to cooking in that a recipe is like a balanced chemical equation. The recipe tells you how much of each ingredient you'll need for it to properly react with the rest and get the product you want, like stoichiometry tells you how much of a reactant is needed to get a certain product. A recipe and an equation using stoichiometry both provide the balanced equation you need.

Steps to Convert/Solve

Step 1: Balance the equation

Step 2: Convert the given units of the substance to moles

Step 3: Use the mole ratio to then calculate the moles of the product produced by the reaction

Step 4: Convert moles of the substance to the desired units

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

This recipe makes 48 cookies

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2) In a bowl beat butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.

3) Stir flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and stir until blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven, until edges begin to brown.

Conversion to Tablespoons

1 cup = 16 tablespoons

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons

12 tbsp butter

12 tbsp white sugar

18 tbsp brown sugar

2 eggs

.33 tbsp vanilla extract

20 tbsp all-purpose flour

.33 tbsp baking soda

.167 tbsp ground cinnamon

.167 tbsp salt

48 tbsp rolled oats

26.67 tbsp butterscotch chips

Most of the ingredients were in cups or teaspoons, so I looked up the conversion from cups to tablespoons and tablespoons to teaspoons. To go from cups to tablespoons, I multiplied (using train tracks) the amount in cups (3/4, 1 1/4, 1 2/3, etc.) by 16 to get the amount in tablespoons. To go from teaspoons to tablespoons, I divided (using train tracks) the amount in teaspoons (1, 1/2, etc.) by 3 to get the amount in tablespoons.