How To Balance Chemical Equations
How To Balance Chemical Equations
Chemical equation is a written symbolic representation of a chemical reaction (The symbols are the elemental letter or letters representing that element). The
reactant chemical(s) are given on the left-hand side and the product chemical(s) on the right-hand side. The two are connected with an arrow leading from the left
to the right, symbolizing the reaction. The law of conservation of mass states that no atoms can be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, so the number of
atoms that are present in the reactants has to balance the number of atoms that are present in the products. Follow this guide to learn how to balance chemical
equations differently
1) Write down your given equation.
For this example, you will use:
C3H8 + O2 --> H2O + CO2
This reaction occurs when propane (C3H8) is burned in the presence of oxygen to produce water and
carbon dioxide.
For example, you have 3 oxygen atoms on the right side, but that total results from addition.
If you have more than one element left to balance, select the element that appears in only a single
molecule of reactants and in only a single molecule of products. This means that you will need to
balance the carbon atoms first
The coefficient 3 in front of carbon on the right side indicates 3 carbon atoms just as the
In a chemical equation, you can change coefficients, but you must never alter the subscripts.
5.) Balance the hydrogen atoms next. Since you have balanced all atoms besides the hydrogen and oxygen, you can address the
hydrogen atoms. You have 8 on the left side. So you'll need 8 on the right side. Use a coefficient to achieve this. [6]
On the right side, you now added a 4 as the coefficient because the subscript showed that you already had 2 hydrogen atoms.
When you multiply the coefficient 4 times by the subscript 2, you end up with 8.
The other 6 atoms of oxygen come from 3CO2.(3x2=6 atoms of oxygen+ the other 4=10)
MOLE
Mole – standard unit of measuement in chemistry that take into account the different element in a chemical compound.
Symbol Description
⇌ replaces the yield sign for reversible reactions that reach equilibrium
2Switch the ions to build the products. Once you have identified all of the
ions and their charges, rearrange them so that the first cation is now paired with
the second anion, and the second cation is now paired with the first anion.
Remember the equation: AB + CD → AD + CB.[12]
3. Write the full equation. After writing the products that will form in the
equation, you can write the whole equation with both products and
reactants. Keep the reactants on the left side of the equation and write the
new products on the right side with a plus sign between them.[13]