Question

What is a skeletal reaction?

Answer 1

Definition

• On the reactant side, the total number of atoms of each element is not equal to the total number of atoms of the same element on the product side.
• Such a type of equation is called a skeleton equation.
• In chemistry, skeleton reactions or unbalanced equations are commonly observed.
• They need to be balanced.

Example

$\mathrm{Mg}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to \mathrm{MgO}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)$