Question

Balance the following skeletal equations.

$\mathrm{Al}+\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+\mathrm{Fe}$

Answer 1

Balanced chemical equation -

• A chemical equation is said to be balanced if the number of atoms of each element on the left-hand side is equal to the number of atoms present on the right-hand side.
• In order to balance a chemical equation, it is required to know what are reactants that are taking part in a chemical reaction and what are products will be formed.

Balancing a chemical equation - Using Hit by trial method
$\mathrm{Al}+\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+\mathrm{Fe}$

Elements	Number of atoms on reactant side	Number of atoms on product side
Al	1	2
Fe	1	1
O	1	3

1. To balance Al, put coefficient 2 on the left-hand side. $2\mathrm{Al}+\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+\mathrm{Fe}$
2. To balance O, put coefficient 3 on the left-hand side. $2\mathrm{Al}+3\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+\mathrm{Fe}$
3. To balance Fe, put coefficient 3 on the right-hand side. $2\mathrm{Al}+3\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+3\mathrm{Fe}$
4. Hence, the balanced chemical equation is $2\mathrm{Al}+3\mathrm{FeO}\to {\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3+3\mathrm{Fe}$