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Because of the Law of Conservation of Mass the number of atom in the reactants side must be exactly the same as the products side.
What happens if the chemical formulas in the reactants and products do not agree?
From lab experiments we know that it is possible to make ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gas. However, we see that the number of atoms in the reactants do not match the number of atoms in the products
When the number of atoms in the products and reactants do not match we must change the coefficients in front of the chemicals. This is called balancing the equation.
Be careful to only change the coefficients. DO NOT change the subscripts!
Steps to Balancing
Steps to Balancing
Step 1: determine the number of atoms on both the reactant and product sides of the reaction.
Step 2: choose the first element to balance. If possible choose an element that only appears once on both sides of the arrow. Then change one or both of the subscripts so that the number of atoms matches.
In this example, we have chosen nitrogen. we have added a 2 in front of the NH3 so that there are now 2 nitrogens on the product side.
Step 3: Now balance all other elements in the reaction. Save elements that appear in multiple chemicals for last.
Step 4: Check that the equation is balanced. Recount all of the atoms on both sides of the reaction.
Practice
Practice
More Practice
More Practice
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