Question

Balance the following chemical equation and identify the type of chemical reaction.

$\underset{\mathrm{sodium}}{\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{sulphur}}{\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\stackrel{\mathrm{Fuse}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{sodium}\mathrm{sulphide}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$

Answer 1

Balanced equation: the chemical equation in which the number of atoms of each element on the reactant side as well as the product side is equal is known as a balanced equation.

Balancing the following chemical equation:

$\underset{\mathrm{sodium}}{\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{sulphur}}{\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\stackrel{\mathrm{Fuse}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{sodium}\mathrm{sulphide}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$

Steps to balance the chemical equation:

• Count the number of atoms of each element on either side. Now first balance the compound with the maximum number of atoms

A number of atoms of each element on the reactant side:

Na=1 S=1

A number of atoms of each element on the product side:

Na=2 S=1

• The sodium atoms are not equal on the product and reactant sides so we will multiply the sodium atom on the reactant side by 2 to balance sodium ions. Now the equation becomes
• $\underset{\mathrm{sodium}}{2\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{sulphur}}{\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\stackrel{\mathrm{Fuse}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{sodium}\mathrm{sulphide}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2\mathrm{S}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}$
• Now the number of sodium and sulphur ions are equal on both the reactant and product side hence equation is balanced.

Combination reaction: the reaction in which two or more than two substances combine to form a single compound is known as a combination reaction.

X+Y→XY

Thus above reaction is a combination reaction i.e. sodium fuse with sulphur to form a single compound sodium sulphide.