Balance the equation: Hydrogen sulphide gas burns in air to give water and sulphur dioxide.

Balancing chemical equation refers to balancing the stoichiometric coefficients on the reactants and products side. This must be done as the chemical equation obeys the law of conservation of mass and momentum.

Hydrogen sulphide gas burns in air to give water and sulphur dioxide can be expressed in terms of equation as

H₂​S(g) + O₂​(g)→H₂​O(l) + SO_2​(g)

Steps to balance chemical equation

Following are the easy steps to balance the equation:

Step 1: Write the Unbalanced Chemical Equation

Let us consider the given reaction. That is the reaction between Hydrogen sulphide gas burns in air to give water and sulphur dioxide.

H₂S + 0₂ → SO₂ + H₂O

Step 2: Write Down Number of Atoms

Write down the number of atoms of each element present on both reactant and product side

Step 3: Add Coefficients To Balance the Mass in a Chemical Equation

Note that the coefficients that are to be added must be a whole number and one coefficient added applies to all the atoms present in that one particular molecule.

Example

• 2 H₂O implies 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
• First try to balance the single element oxygen atom and then move to hydrogen
• So here we will first balance sulphur and then oxygen
• Go by trial and error method. Adding 2 Hydrogen on both sides then it will be 4 on reactants side and on product side 4.
• So 2 H works, 2 hydrogen sulphide, making it  2H₂0
• The same trial and error procedure is now followed to balance oxygen
• 3 O₂ then we have 6 oxygen atoms on the reactant side and also 6 oxygen atoms on the product side.
• Hence, The balanced chemical equation is:

2H₂S + 30₂ → 2SO₂ + 2H₂O

Now we can rewrite the table and verify

Now the atoms are balanced in both reactant and on the product side.

Hence, the balanced chemical equation for Hydrogen sulphide gas burns in air to give water and sulphur dioxide is given as

2H₂S + 3O₂ → 2SO₂ + 2H₂O