06
Balance the following chemical equation:
CzH OH () + O2(g) → CO2 (g) + H20 (1) + Heat
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
The balanced equation is
2
CH
3
OH
+
3
O
2
→
2
CO
2
+
4
H
2
O
Explanation:
You follow a systematic procedure to balance the equation.
Start with the unbalanced equation:
CH
3
OH
+
O
2
→
CO
2
+
H
2
O
A method that often works is first to balance everything other than
O
and
H
, then balance
O
, and finally balance
H
.
Another useful procedure is to start with what looks like the most complicated formula.
The most complicated formula looks like
CH
3
OH
. We put a 1 in front of it to remind ourselves that the number is now fixed.
We start with
1
CH
3
OH
+
O
2
→
CO
2
+
H
2
O
Balance
C
:
We have
1 C
on the left, so we need
1 C
on the right. We put a 1 in front of the
CO
2
.
1
CH
3
OH
+
O
2
→
1
CO
2
+
H
2
O
Balance
H
:
We can't balance
O
because we have two oxygen-containing molecules without coefficients. ∴ Let's balance
H
instead.
We have
4 H
on the left, so we need
4 H
on the right. There are already
2 H
atoms on the right. We must put a 2 in front of the
H
2
O
.
1
CH
3
OH
+
O
2
→
1
CO
2
+
2
H
2
O
Balance
O
:
We have fixed
4 O
on the right and
1 O
on the left. We need
3 O
on the left.
Uh, oh! Fractions!
We start over, this time doubling all the coefficients.
2
CH
3
OH
+
O
2
→
2
CO
2
+
4
H
2
O
Now we can balance
O
by putting a 3 in front of
O
2
2
CH
3
OH
+
3
O
2
→
2
CO
2
+
4
H
2
O
Every formula now has a coefficient. We should have a balanced equation.