Scribd
Upload
51 views1 page

Chemistry Igcse

A chemical equation shows the reactants, products, and relative amounts involved in a chemical reaction. It must be balanced, with an equal number of atoms of each element on both sides. To balance an equation, state symbols are added and numbers are placed in front of formulas as needed until the number of atoms of each element matches on both sides. The overall process involves writing the unbalanced equation, checking for balance, and balancing by adding numbers and state symbols until equal numbers of each atom are on both sides.

Uploaded by

Rausanara Ferdoushi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
51 views1 page

Chemistry Igcse

A chemical equation shows the reactants, products, and relative amounts involved in a chemical reaction. It must be balanced, with an equal number of atoms of each element on both sides. To balance an equation, state symbols are added and numbers are placed in front of formulas as needed until the number of atoms of each element matches on both sides. The overall process involves writing the unbalanced equation, checking for balance, and balancing by adding numbers and state symbols until equal numbers of each atom are on both sides.

Uploaded by

Rausanara Ferdoushi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Writing chemical equation

A chemical equation shows what happens in a chemical reaction. It tells us:

 Which reactants and products are involved in the reaction;


 The relative amounts of reactants and products;
 The physical states of the reactants and products of the reaction.

In a mathematical equation, the values on the left-hand side must be equal to the values on the right-hand side. They
must balance.

A balanced chemical equation must contain an equal number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation.
A balanced chemical equation should consist of the following components.

The reactants are written on the left-hand side The product(s) are written on the right-
of the equation hand side of the equation.

The chemical The state symbols indicate


equation is
balanced by 2H₂ (g) + O₂(g) 2H₂O(l) the physical state of each
reactant and product. The
adding a number state symbols are:
in the front of the
chemical formula.  (s):solid

The arrow means ‘react to form’. The  (g): gas


reaction proceeds from left to right.  (l):liquid
 (aq):aqueous

Steps in writing a balanced chemical equation:


Step 1 Write down the chemical formulae of the reactants and H₂ + O₂ H₂O
products to get the chemical equation.
Step 2 Check the number of atoms of each element in the Left-hand side Right-hand side
formulae on both sides of the equation. If the equation is 2 H atoms 2 H atoms
not balanced, proceed to step 3. 2 O atoms 1 O atoms
Step 3 Balancing equation:
 To balance the number of oxygen atoms, put a ‘2’ H₂ + O₂ 2 H₂O
in front of H₂O. This means that two molecules of
water are formed.
 The equation is still not balanced because there are 2H₂ +O₂ 2H₂O
four hydrogen atoms on the right-hand side and
only two on the left-hand side.
 To balance the equation, we need to put a ‘2’ in
front of H₂.
Step 4 Add state symbols to indicate the physical state of each 2H₂(g) + O₂(g) 2H₂O(l)
reactant and product.

You might also like