balance the following is equation : HNO3 + Ca(OH)2 Ca(NO3)2 + H2O
Answers
Reactants: (Left side of equation currently)
HNO3 has 1 H atom, 1 N atom and 3 O atoms
Ca(OH)2 has 1 Ca atom, 2 O atoms and 2 H atoms
Left side has a total of 3 H atoms, 1 N atom, 1 Ca atom, and 5 O atoms
Products: (Right side of equation currently)
Ca(NO3)2 has 1 Ca atom, 2 N atoms (1 x 2) and 6 O atoms (3 x 2)
H2O has 2 H atoms, and 1 O atoms
Right side has a total of 1 Ca atom, 2 N atoms, 7 O atoms, 2 H atoms
In this equation, you have to balance the atoms of both sides, so you start with one type of atom and go from there.
Since Oxygen has more atoms in the equation, let's try to balance them first and see if that works.
Currently, I have 5 total O atoms (3 + 2) on the left side and 7 on the right (6 + 1)
Since they are not balanced, I need to put something on the left to give more on that side.
Try 2 HNO3, which gives 6 O atoms, and I had 2 from the Ca(OH)2 already, so I have a total of 8 O atoms now.
Right side, you need 8 total, but only have 7. Since H20 has only one O atom, if you place a 2 in front of the H20, you have 2 O atoms now.
Equation so far:
2HNO3+Ca(OH)2= Ca(NO3)2+2H2O
Again, balance all the atoms for reactants and products.
Reactants:
2HNO3 has 2 H atoms, 2 N atom and 6 O atoms
Ca(OH)2 has 1 Ca atom, 2 O atoms and 2 H atoms
Left side: 4 H atoms, 2 N atoms, 8 O atoms, 1 Ca atom
Products:
Ca(NO3)2 has 1 Ca atom, 2 N atoms, 6 O atoms
2H2O has 4 H atoms (2 x 2), and 2 O atoms
Right side: 1 Ca atom 2 N atoms, 8 O atoms, 4 H atoms
Since the numbers on the left equal the right, you now have a balanced equation, so this must be the answer:
2HNO3+Ca(OH)2= Ca(NO3)2+2H2O