What does stoichiometry in chemistry refer to?

Stoichiometry in chemistry refers to the calculation of reactants and products in chemical reactions. This concept is fundamental to understanding how substances interact and transform during a reaction. Stoichiometry involves using balanced chemical equations to determine the ratios of moles of reactants needed to produce a specific amount of products. It allows chemists to predict how much product can be formed from given amounts of reactants, facilitating efficient and accurate planning in experimental chemistry.

The essence of stoichiometry lies in the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. Therefore, the stoichiometric coefficients in a balanced equation reflect the exact proportions in which the reactants combine and the products form. This makes stoichiometry a critical tool in both laboratory preparations and large-scale industrial processes.