Vector-Based Approach to the Stoichiometric Analysis of Multicomponent Chemical Reactions: The Case of Black Powder

Abstract

The study demonstrates the capabilities of a vector-based approach for calculating stoichiometric coefficients in chemical equations, using black powder as an illustrative example. A method is proposed for selecting and constraining intermediate interactions between reactants, as well as for identifying final products. It is shown that even a small number of components can lead to a large number of final and intermediate products. Through concrete calculations, a correlation is established between the number of possible chemical equations and the number of reactants. A methodology is proposed for computing all possible chemical equations within a reaction system for arbitrary component ratios, enabling the derivation of all feasible chemical reactions. Additionally, a method is developed for calculating the chemical composition for a fixed set of reactants, allowing for the evaluation of the set of products resulting from all possible chemical interactions given a specified initial composition.

Mirror of ChemRxiv preprint: Kozub, P.A.; Yilmaz, N.; Kozub, Y. "Vector-Based Approach to the Stoichiometric Analysis of Multicomponent Chemical Reactions: The Case of Black Powder" ChemRxiv (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-p9fbn This version is shared on arXiv for wider dissemination