how to balance a chemical eq
Answers
Count the atoms of each element in the reactants and the products.
Use coefficients; place them in front of the compounds as needed.
Answer:
Explanation:
Step 1
The unbalanced equation must be obtained from the chemical formulae of the reactants and the products (if it is not already provided).
The chemical formula of propane is C3H8. It burns with oxygen (O2) to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)
The unbalanced chemical equation can be written as C3H8 + O2 → CO2 + H2O
Step 2
The total number of atoms of each element on the reactant side and the product side must be compared. For this example, the number of atoms on each side can be tabulated as follows.
Chemical Equation: C3H8 + O2 → CO2 + H2O
Reactant Side Product Side
3 Carbon atoms from C3H8 1 Carbon atom from CO2
8 Hydrogen atoms from C3H8 2 Hydrogen atoms from H2O
2 Oxygen atoms from O2 3 Oxygen atoms, 2 from CO2 and 1 from H2O
Step 3
Now, stoichiometric coefficients are added to molecules containing an element which has a different number of atoms in the reactant side and the product side.
The coefficient must balance the number of atoms on each side.
Generally, the stoichiometric coefficients are assigned to hydrogen and oxygen atoms last.
Now, the number of atoms of the elements on the reactant and product side must be updated.
It is important to note that the number of atoms of an element in one species must be obtained by multiplying the stoichiometric coefficient with the total number of atoms of that element present in 1 molecule of the species.
For example, when the coefficient 3 is assigned to the CO2 molecule, the total number of oxygen atoms in CO2 becomes 6. In this example, the coefficient is first assigned to carbon, as tabulated below.
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