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 H1.  STOICHIOMETRY: THE MEANING OF THE WORD – WHAT IS IT ? 

 H1.1  ORIGINS OF THE TERM STOICHIOMETRY 

Stoichiometry, one of the most important terms in all chemistry, is derived from two Greek words:

stoicheion (“indivisible”) and metron (“search for proportions”).  

Stoichiometry is a theory that enables us to calculate, in principle, the chemical amounts of reactants or/& products that participate in chemical reactions.

Jeremias Benjamin Richter (1762-1807) first laid down the principles of stoichiometry publishing from 1792-94 a three-volume summary of his work on the law of definite proportions. In 1792 JBR wrote:

Jeremias Benjamin Richter (1762-1807)

"Die stöchyometrie (Stöchyometria) ist die Wissenschaft die quantitative
oder Massenverhältnisse zu messen, in welchen die chymischen Elemente gegen einander stehen."

Stoichiometry - the science of measuring the quantitative proportions or mass ratios in which chemical compounds or/& elements interact as reactants or/& products, whether they be molecular, ionic, or atomic, etc.

JBR’s writing style has been cited as the reason why his work had little impact until 1802, when E. Gottfried Fischer (1754 –1831) summarized it far more neatly in a tabulated format where equivalent masses of acids and bases were compared.

 H1.2  USEFUL STOICHIOMETRIC ANALOGIES AS A STARTING POINT 

composition of football/soccer team analogy for stoichiometry
stoichiometry analogies
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