Question

How can we make the chemical equation more informative?

Answer 1

Any chemical change in the matter which involves transformation into one or more substances with entirely different properties is known as a chemical reaction.

Chemical reactions can be represented by chemical equations. The substances that take part in the chemical reaction are called reactants and the chemicals which are formed as a result of the reaction between reactants is known as product.

$\mathrm{X}+\mathrm{Y}\to \mathrm{P}$ in the given equation X and Y are reactants and P is the product.

Significance of Chemical equation:

• It gives information about the reactants and products of the reaction (qualitative approach)
• It informs us about the number of molecules or atoms of reactant and product.
• The actual mass of reactant and product formed can be calculated with the help of a balanced chemical equation. (quantitative approach)
• It makes the study of chemistry universally standardized.

Limitation of the chemical equation

It does not inform about the reactant and product.

Does not give information on the concentration of the reactant and product.

It does not inform about the time taken for the completion of the reaction.

The evolution or absorption of heat can not be predicted.

The chemical equation can be made more informative by adding the following properties:

• The physical state of the reactant and product.
• Evolution of gas.
• Precipitate formed.
• Reaction conditions like temperature and pressure.
• Evolution or absorption of heat during the reaction.

For example: For the formation of ammonia chemical equation can be given as:

$\underset{\mathrm{nitrogen}}{{\mathrm{N}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{hydrogen}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\underset{\mathrm{Fe}-\mathrm{Mo}}{\overset{400-{450}^0\mathrm{C}}{\to }}\underset{\mathrm{ammonia}}{2{\mathrm{NH}}_3\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$

The above equation gives the following information:

Reactants: Nitrogen(${\mathrm{N}}_2$) and hydrogen$\left({\mathrm{H}}_2\right)$

Product: Ammonia (${\mathrm{NH}}_3$)

The physical state of reactant and product: Reactants and products both are gases.

Temperature: 400-450⁰C

Catalyst: Fe(iron) and Mo (promoter).