How To Balance Equation Chemistry?

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Balancing a chemical equation includes the addition of stoichiometric coefficients to products and reactants. The balancing of chemical equations is essential as a chemical equation must obey the law of constant proportions and the law of mass conversation. Balancing an equation refers to the same number of atoms of each element that must exist on both the reactant and the product side of an equation.

If you have an unbalanced equation, the chemical equation must be balanced, and for this, the balancing methods must be followed.

A chemical equation refers to a chemical reactions’ symbolic representation where their respective chemical formulas denote the products and reactants.

For instance,

Let us take a chemical equation,

2H₂ + O₂ ————-> 2H₂O

Here in this reaction, the left-hand side is the reactant side, and the right-hand side is the product one.

Stoichiometric Coefficient

A stoichiometric coefficient describes a chemical species’ total number of molecules which take part in the chemical reaction. Like in the above equation, the stoichiometric coefficient of H₂ and H₂O is 2, whereas O₂ is 1.

Balancing the equation!

To balance an equation, follow the step-by-step procedure, and you will never feel any complications in balancing the equation.

STEP 1

The chemical equation is

C₃H₈ + O₂ ———–> CO₂ + H₂O

Now that the equation is unbalanced, we need to balance it.

STEP 2

The total number of each element’s atoms on the product and reactant side need to be compared. 

Reactant side                                                         Product Side

3Carbon atoms from C₃H₈                                   1 Carbon atom from CO₂

8 Hydrogen atoms from C₃H₈                              2 Hydrogen atoms from H₂O

2 Oxygen atoms from O₂                                      3 Oxygen atoms, 1 from H₂O and 2 from CO₂

Now that the number of atoms is compared, perform step 3

STEP 3

Here, the stoichiometric coefficients are added to the molecules comprising an element with a different number of atoms in both the reactant and product side. The stoichiometric coefficients must balance the number of atoms on each side.

C₃H₈ + O₂ ———–> 3CO₂ + H₂O

Reactant Side                                                        Product Side

3 Carbon atoms from C₃H₈                                   3 Carbon atoms from CO₂

8 Hydrogen atoms from C₃H₈                                2 Hydrogen atoms from H₂O

2 Oxygen atoms from O₂                                      7 Oxygen atoms, 1 from H₂O and 6 from CO₂

The Carbon atoms are equal now.

STEP 4 

The above step must be repeated until the reactant, and product side’s total number of atoms becomes equal for each element.

C₃H₈ + O₂ —–> 3CO₂ + 4H₂O

Reactant Side                                                        Product Side

3 Carbon atoms from C₃H₈                                  3 Carbon atoms from CO₂

8 Hydrogen atoms from C₃H₈                              8 Hydrogen atoms from H₂O

2 Oxygen atoms from O₂                                    10 Oxygen atoms, 4 from H₂O, and 6 from CO₂

Now the Hydrogen atoms are also balanced.

STEP 5

Balancing the Oxygen atoms

C₃H₈ + 5O₂ ——–> 3CO₂ + 4H₂O

Reactant Side                                                        Product Side

3 Carbon atoms from C₃H₈                                   3 Carbon atoms from CO₂

8 Hydrogen atoms from C₃H₈                              8 Hydrogen atoms from H₂O

10 Oxygen atoms from O₂                                   10 Oxygen atoms, 4 from H₂O, and 6 from CO₂

Oxygen atoms are also balanced.

STEP 6

Now that all the individual elements are balanced, you just need to write down the final equation and compare it all once again.

C₃H₈ + 5O₂ ———-> 3CO₂ + 4H₂O

All the elements are equal. So, this is your final balanced equation.

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