Question

Balance the given equation:

$\mathrm{Zn}+\mathrm{HCl}\to {\mathrm{ZnCl}}_2+{\mathrm{H}}_2$

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: Zn + HCl → ZnCl₂ + H₂

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
Zn	1	1
H	1	2
Cl	1	2

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 hydrogen and oxygen can be done by multiplying the required coefficient for them in the reaction.
2. This is done by multiplying 2 by hydrogen chloride on the reactant side only, to make the two sides equal.

$\mathrm{Zn}+2\mathrm{HCl}\to {\mathrm{ZnCl}}_2+{\mathrm{H}}_2$

Elements	Number of atoms on the reactant side	Number of atoms on the product side
Zn	1	1
H	2	2
Cl	2	2

So the balanced chemical equation is:
$\underset{\mathrm{Zinc}}{\mathrm{Zn}}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{chloride}}{2\mathrm{HCl}}\to \underset{\mathrm{Zinc}\mathrm{chloride}}{{\mathrm{ZnCl}}_2}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$