Stoichiometry Talking Blues Divya Vig

I planned a party for Saturday night, I wanted everything to be just right.

I invited everyone I knew, Even crazy Uncle Lou.

Now people at a party like to eat, So I needed to have some kind of treat. I didn’t want to buy a cake, so I finally set my mind to make, Some cookies- homemade chocolate chip cookies.

So I got out my cookin’ book, Opened it up and took a look.

1 cup shortening, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp water, 2 eggs, 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 2 cups chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped nuts.

It said it would make 100 cookies… Had a bunch of mixing and baking directions, Sounded pretty good to me… Except for one problem… NOT ENOUGH COOKIES! ESPECIALLY FOR UNCLE LOU!

Now I figured a cookie recipe is like an equation in chemistry, And it was very plain to see, I could use a little stoichiometry.

To make 200 cookies or so, I needed about twice as much dough. So it made a lot of sense, to double all the ingredients.

So I got out a calculator… Multiplied everything by two… Got out all the stuff… And started measuring!

2 cups shortening, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 3 cups granulated sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp water, 4 eggs, 4 cups flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, 4 cups chocolate chips, 2 cups chopped nuts.

I mixed it all up… bakes at 200 cookies… even though I increased the amount of each ingredient… I maintained the same relative proportions.

Well everyone came and it was neat, They saw the cookies and started to eat.

Uncle Lou ate the most, Said I was a fantastic host.

Said all you need is a recipe, And a little stoichiometry.