Question

Write proper symbols for x and y in the following chemical equation.

${\mathrm{CH}}_4\left(x\right)+2{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to {\mathrm{CO}}_2\left(y\right)+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)$

Answer 1

Physical state of a substance:

The physical state of a substance is the state of matter in which the substance exists on earth.

Symbols for x and y:
The chemical reactions are written with the state of the reactant and the product in which they exist. They are represented inside the brackets after the substances in reaction equations. Methane and Carbon dioxide usually exist in a gaseous state which is symbolized as g.

The reaction equation with the correct representation is given below.

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{CH}}_4\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+2{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to {\mathrm{CO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right) \\ \mathrm{Methane}\mathrm{Oxygen}\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{Water} \\ \mathrm{dioxide} \end{gathered}$$