Question

State three limitations of a chemical equation.

Answer 1

Chemical equation:

• 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.
• An example of a general chemical equation is: $\mathrm{X}+\mathrm{Y}\to \mathrm{P}$ in the given equation X and Y are reactants and P is the product.

Limitation of the chemical equation

• It does not give information on the concentration of the reactants and products.
• It does not give information about the time taken for the completion of the reaction.
• It does not give information about the heat changes during the reaction i.e. whether the heat is given out or absorbed.