A chemical equation is the form of representing the chemical reaction with the help of chemical formulas of the substances involved in the reaction. Reactants are the substances that react with each other in a chemical reaction and the products are substances that are obtained after reaction. The reactants are written in the left hand side of the chemical equation and the products are written on the right hand side. The two are connected with an arrow leading from the left to the right, symbolizing the reaction.
The law of conservation of mass states that no atoms can be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, so the number of atoms that are present in the reactants has to balance the number of atoms that are present in the products.
When a chemical reaction occurs, the reactants are converted to products. However, the number of atoms, remains the same before and after the reaction as per the law of conservation of mass. When student write a chemical equation, a necessary step is to balance the number of atoms on both sides of the equation.
A balanced equation is an equation for a chemical reaction in which the number of atoms for each element in the reaction and the total charge is the same for both the reactants and the products. In other words, the mass and the charge are balanced on both sides of the reaction.
According to the law of conservation of mass, when a chemical reaction occurs, the mass of the products should be equal to the mass of the reactants. Therefore, the amount of the atoms in each element does not change in the chemical reaction. As a result, the chemical equation that shows the chemical reaction needs to be balanced.
A balanced chemical equation occurs when the number of the atoms involved in the reactants side is equal to the number of atoms in the products side. Simple chemical equations can be balanced by inspection, that is, by trial and error. Generally, it is best to balance the most complicated molecule first.
To balance a chemical equation, enter an equation of a chemical reaction and press the Balance button. The balanced equation will appear above.
· Use uppercase for the first character in the element and lowercase for the second character. Examples: Fe, Au, Co, Br, C, O, N, F.
· Ionic charges are not yet supported and will be ignored.
· Replace immutable groups in compounds to avoid ambiguity. For example, C6H5C2H5 + O2 = C6H5OH + CO2 + H2O will not be balanced, but XC2H5 + O2 = XOH + CO2 + H2O will.
· Compound states [like (s) (aq) or (g)] are not required.
· You can use parenthesis () or brackets [].