Question

Balance the chemical equation:

$\mathrm{Na}+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\to \mathrm{NaOH}$

Answer 1

Balanced chemical equation:

A chemical equation in which the number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation is equal is called a balanced chemical equation.

Given equation: $\mathrm{Na}+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\to \mathrm{NaOH}$

Step 1: Calculating the number of atoms on both sides of the reaction:

Elements	Number of atoms on the reactant side	Number of atoms on the product side
Na	1	1
H	2	1
O	1	1

Step 2: Balancing the uneven number of atoms on the reactants and products side:

1. As the number of atoms on the reactants and products side is different, so balancing of sodium (Na), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) can be done by multiplying the required coefficient for them in the reaction.
2. This is done by multiplying 2 to sodium and 2 to water (H₂O) on the reactant side and also 2 to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the product side along with hydrogen as another product.

$2\mathrm{Na}+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\to 2\mathrm{NaOH}+{\mathrm{H}}_2$

Elements	Number of atoms on the reactant side	Number of atoms on the product side
Na	2	2
H	4	4
O	2	2

So the balanced chemical equation is:

$2\mathrm{Na}+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\to 2\mathrm{NaOH}+{\mathrm{H}}_2$