Question

What is the difference between a word equation and a chemical equation?

Answer 1

Word equation

• Word Equation is the representation of a chemical reaction using words in a chemical equation.

$\underset{\mathrm{Reactants}}{\mathrm{A}+\mathrm{B}}\to \underset{\mathrm{Products}}{\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{D}}$

• A and B are the reactants in this equation which are written on left hand side.
• C and D are the products in this equation which are written on right hand side.
• For example

$\underset{\left(\mathrm{Reactants}\right)}{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{Chloride}}\stackrel{\mathrm{Sunlight}}{\to }\underset{\left(\mathrm{Products}\right)}{\mathrm{Silver}+\mathrm{Chlorine}}$

Chemical equation

• Chemical Equation is the representation of a chemical reaction using symbols and equations.

$\underset{\mathrm{Reactants}}{\mathrm{A}+\mathrm{B}}\to \underset{\mathrm{Products}}{\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{D}}$

• A and B are the reactants in this equation which are written on left hand side.
• C and D are the products in this equation which are written on right hand side.
• For example

$\underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{Chloride}}{2\mathrm{AgCl}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\stackrel{\mathrm{Sunlight}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Silver}}{2\mathrm{Ag}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Chlorine}}{{\mathrm{Cl}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$