We have reached a milestone in our study of chemistry this year, stoichiometry. That’s a five dollar word for measuring the amounts of elements in a chemical reaction. The abstract became real in the laboratory this week as we observed the growth a silver crystals on a copper wire. Using some fancy calculations we were then able to determine the amount of silver and copper atoms involved in the reaction and determine the ratio, which allowed us to see a balanced chemical equation in action. Plus the silver crystals are pretty and actually worth some money!