Preview - Stoichiometry - Creating A Fizzy Drink Part 1

Chemical Equations at the Microscopic and Macroscopic Scale

Chemical equations can be used to represent what happens on either the microscopic or macroscopic scale.

C (s) + O2 (g) -----> CO2 (g)

This equation can be read in either of the following ways.

  1. If, or when, solid carbon reacts with gaseous oxygen, one atom of carbon and one molecule of oxygen are consumed for every one molecule of gaseous carbon dioxide produced.
  2. If, or when, solid carbon reacts with gaseous oxygen, one mole of carbon and one mole of oxygen are consumed for every one mole of gaseous carbon dioxide produced.

 

 

Questions

Please answer the questions below.

1. Which reading of the chemical equation C (s) + O2 (g) → CO2 (g) represents the macroscopic representation? Cite evidence from the sentence reading that led you to that conclusion.

2. Which reading of the chemical equation C (s) + O2 ​(g) → CO2 (g) represents the microscopic representation? Cite evidence from the sentence reading that led you to that conclusion.

3. When chemists perform chemical equations, are they making products in microscopic or macroscopic quantities? Why?

Notes

These notes will appear on every page in this lesson so feel free to put anything here you'd like to keep track of.