balancing equations (1 Viewer)

[aviichand]

i need help with balancing equations - im really struggling with the whole idea of it. can anyone help me?

 

[jchen99]

my tutor at infinite knowledge always told me to use fractions so its easier to "see" the balancing

 

[donkily]

http://www.wikihow.com/Balance-Chemical-Equations

 

[tigerkher]

I like to write down how much of each atom (by itself) there is on each side of the equation. For example, on the left (reactants), I'd write:
C = 8
H = 4
O = 3
And I do the same for the right hand side (products).
It's best to try and balance everything else first, and the oxygens at the end, because sometimes they will need fractions rather than whole numbers. Each time I add a number to whichever compound, whether it be on the LHS or RHS, I change the number count of those atoms (from the list above). Keep doing this until both numbers of C, H, O (or whichever atoms you are dealing with), are equal on both sides.

 

[Itz_Gabi]

The whole idea with balancing equations is to fulfil the Conservation of Matter - matter cannot be created or destroyed, only rearranged. In other words, the number of atoms on the left side (reactants) must be equal to the right side (products).

I think what can be difficult to initially understand is 2H₂O.

The 2H₂O is ONLY combined with the H. Whereas, the 2H₂O is combined with the whole expression. Imagine there are brackets like 2(H₂O) and you're expanding the expression: 2H₂ and 2O

Tigerkher has a good tactic