ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Stoichiometry matrix

Okay, let's say you and your friend love making cookies. You have a recipe that requires certain amounts of flour, sugar, eggs, and chocolate chips. These ingredients are like the atoms of chemistry - they come together to make something delicious!

Now, imagine you want to make twice as many cookies. You need to adjust the amount of ingredients you use based on how much each recipe calls for. If you just try to double everything, you might end up with a big mess.

This is where stoichiometry comes in! It's like having a cheat sheet that tells you exactly how much of each ingredient you need for a specific recipe. When you use stoichiometry, you're making sure all the elements in your recipe are in balance.

Now, a stoichiometry matrix is just a fancy way of organizing all that information. It's like a big chart that shows how much of each ingredient you need, and how they all fit together. Think of it like a map or a puzzle - by following the matrix, you can put all the atoms in the right places to create your final product.