Question

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

Answer 1

A chemical equation is the symbolic representation of a chemical reaction in the form of symbols and formulae, where the reactant entities are given on the left-hand side and the product entities on the right-hand side.

Example:

$\underset{\mathrm{Ammonia}}{{\mathrm{NH}}_3}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{\mathrm{HCl}}\to \underset{\mathrm{Ammonium}\mathrm{chloride}}{{\mathrm{NH}}_4\mathrm{Cl}}$

Steps involved in writing a chemical equation:

• Write the equation of the chemical reaction in words.
• Write the formulae of the reactants on the left-hand side and the products on the right-hand side of the equation.
• If there are two or more reactants or products, then write a plus (+) sign between them.
• Show the direction of the reaction with an arrow ($\to$) between the reactants and products.
• The equation thus obtained is known as the skeletal equation.
• Finally, balance the chemical equation so that the number of atoms of each element on the reactant side is equal to the number of atoms on the product side.

Example:

Step 1: Carbon monoxide + Oxygen $\to$Carbon dioxide

Step 2: $\underset{\mathrm{Reactants}}{\mathrm{CO}{\mathrm{O}}_{2\hspace{0.17em}}}\underset{\mathrm{Product}}{{\mathrm{CO}}_2}$

Step 3:$\underset{\mathrm{Reactants}}{\mathrm{CO}+{\mathrm{O}}_2}\underset{\mathrm{Product}}{{\mathrm{CO}}_2}$

Step 4: $\underset{\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{monoxide}}{\mathrm{CO}}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2}\to \underset{\mathrm{carbon}\mathrm{dioxide}}{{\mathrm{CO}}_2}$

Step 5: $\mathrm{Balanced}\mathrm{chemical}\mathrm{equation}:\underset{\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{monoxide}}{2\mathrm{CO}}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2}\to \underset{\mathrm{carbon}\mathrm{dioxide}}{2{\mathrm{CO}}_2}$