Question

Complete and balance the following reaction :

${\mathrm{KClO}}_3\stackrel{∆}{\to }$

Answer 1

When Potassium chlorate is heated we get Potassium chloride and Oxygen.

Hence, we get the equation-

${\mathrm{KClO}}_3\stackrel{∆}{\to }\mathrm{KCl}+{\mathrm{O}}_2$

Balancing the equation-

Atoms	Reactant	Product
K	1	1
Cl	1	1
O	3	2

• We multiply the Oxygen molecule on the product side by 3 and we get 6 atoms of Oxygen on the product side.
• To get 6 Oxygen atoms on the reactant side we multiply the Potassium chlorate molecule by 2.
• We get extra Potassium and Chlorine molecule multiplied by 2 to finally balance the equation.

Atoms	Reactant	Product
K	2	2
Cl	2	2
O	6	6

Hence, the complete balanced equation for the above reaction is-

$\underset{\mathrm{Potassium}\mathrm{chlorate}}{2{\mathrm{KClO}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\stackrel{∆}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Potassium}\mathrm{chloride}}{2\mathrm{KCl}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{3{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$