Question

What is meant by the terms skeleton equation?

Answer 1

Skeleton equation:

• A chemical equation that represents various reactants and products of the chemical reaction in terms of symbols and formulae is called a skeleton equation.
• In such equation, the number of atoms of each kind may or may not be equal on both sides of the equation.

For example:

${\mathrm{KClO}}_3\to \mathrm{KCl}+{\mathrm{O}}_2$

• In this equation, the number of oxygen atoms on the left and right-hand sides of the equation is not equal.
• Therefore, such an equation is a skeleton equation.