Question

A piece of sodium metal is added to absolute ethanol to form sodium ethoxide and hydrogen gas. Write the equation

Answer 1

Hey,

Na + C2H5OH ==>>   C2H5ONa + 1/2H2

Answer 2

The reaction is as follows:

Na + C2H5OH → C2H5ONa + H2

There are 7 particles of hydrogen on the side of the product and 6 molecules on the side of reactant.

Na + 2C2H5OH → 2C2H5ONa + H2

Now there are 12 units of hydrogen on both sides. But there are 2 atoms of sodium on the side of the product and only one molecule on the side of reactant. So the overall balanced response can be reproduced as

2Na + 2C2H5OH → 2C2H5ONa + H2

This reaction is known as the displacement reaction in which sodium removes hydrogen from ethanol to produce sodium ethoxide.