Question

What is a chemical equation? Write the steps involved in writing a chemical equation.

Answer 1

Chemical equation: Chemical equations are symbolic representations of chemical reactions in which the reactants and the products are expressed in terms of their respective chemical formulae.

The following are different steps involved in writing a chemical equation:

Identify the type of reactant and product. Write a word equation.

• Hydrogen gas + Oxygen gas = water

Write the chemical formula for each of the reactants and products.

• $\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Water}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$

Count the number of each type of atom in reactants and products.

Element	Reactant	Product
Hydrogen($\mathrm{H}$)	2	2
Oxygen($\mathrm{O}$)	2	1

Balance the equation:

• Compare the number of each type of atom on both sides (reactants and products) and try to balance the reaction by placing appropriate coefficients in front of the reactants and products.
• 

Check whether the reaction is balanced or not (Atoms on LHS= Atoms on RHS)

• $\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Water}}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$

Element	Reactant	Product
Hydrogen($\mathrm{H}$)	4	4
Oxygen($\mathrm{O}$)	2	2