SQUARE45

Let a chemical reaction be represented by the general form:

\sum_{i=1}^{N} \nu_i A_i \rightarrow \sum_{j=1}^{M} \eta_j B_j

, where

A_i

and

B_j

are chemical species, and

\nu_i

and

\eta_j

are the stoichiometric coefficients. The principle of mass conservation dictates that for every element

E

present in the system, the total number of atoms of

E

consumed must equal the total number of atoms of

E

produced. Formally, for any element

E

: \(\sum_{i=1}^{N} \nu_i \cdot (\text{atoms of } E \text{ in } A_i) = \sum_{j=1}^{M} \eta_j \cdot (\text{atoms of } E \text{ in } B_j)\.

Stoichiometry