If you do some of the gram molecular weight calculations you will find this:Ģ grams of hydrogen + 32 grams of oxygen = 18 grams of water We can form water by combing hydrogen gas (H 2) and oxygen (O 2) in the presence of electricity. In other words, if I start baking bread with 10 pounds of flour, I should end up with 10 pounds of bread, unless some is lost onto the floor or if some of it goes up in smoke!Ī simple example goes a long way. This reading uses the Texas Instrument TI-82 Graphical Calculator as an example.Įarly on in your chemistry studies, you will have ample opportunity to balance equations! This is a fundamental skill in chemistry, as you might have noticed from the short reading in stoichiometry! Balancing equations means writing chemical equations such that the amount of stuff you start with in the reaction equals the amount of stuff you end up with as a product. Most if not all graphical calculators have this capability. Took me 3 minutes to set up the algebraic equations and few more minutes to solve them all.NOTE: this application requires that you have a calculator capable of doing MATRICES. I mean, it will help in terms of keeping track on the number of atoms, but I’ll still need to do perform trial and error with the three atoms. It’s not going to be much better if I use Method 2 either. By the way, that’s EVERY single term on the right! I don’t know bout you, but I know I have better use of my time than to play trial and error with these 3 atoms. On the right, it’s in Fe 2(SO 4) 3, Cr 2(SO 4) 3, CO 2, H 2O, K 2SO 4 and KNO 3. On the left, it’s in K 2Cr 2O 7 and H 2SO 4. That’s considered the easier atom among the three. I mean look at K, on the left, it appears in K 4 and K 2Cr 2O 7, and on the right, I see it in K 2SO 4 and KNO 3. What’s 3 more atoms (K, S and O), right? WRONG!!! Those 3 that are left are tough and that’s because they appear in multiple terms all over the place. So far I have balanced Fe, C, N, H and Cr. Well, how about that? Is it my lucky day or what? There’s 2 on the left and 2 on the right. Well, look at that! It’s already balanced! Moving on to Cr. Gaining momentum and confidence… 3 down, 5 more to go. Piece of cake, kinda like C – 12 on the left and 1 on the right. That means I’ll place a “12” in front of CO 2.Ģ K 4 + K 2Cr 2O 7 + H 2SO 4 → Fe 2(SO 4) 3 + Cr 2(SO 4) 3 + 12 CO 2 + H 2O + K 2SO 4 + KNO 3 S looks tough since I see it in multiple terms on both sides. Great! I can do this….add a “2” on the left, in front of K 4, so now I have:Ģ K 4 + K 2Cr 2O 7 + H 2SO 4 → Fe 2(SO 4) 3 + Cr 2(SO 4) 3 + CO 2 + H 2O + K 2SO 4 + KNO 3.įe is balanced, for now. ![]() First question, how should I balance K? I know I’ll need to “double” the K counts on the right, but which term should I start with – K 2SO 4 or KNO 3? Not sure. Ok…what about on the right? Looks like a total 3 K on the right. I started with K since it’s the first atom I encounter from the left. How long do you think it will take to balance it? Which has 8 types of atoms in the equation: K, Fe, S, C, N, Cr, O and H. So, imagine if you have a real complex equation like this: K 4 + K 2Cr 2O 7 + H 2SO 4 → Fe 2(SO 4) 3 + Cr 2(SO 4) 3 + CO 2 + H 2O + K 2SO 4 + KNO 3 I mean, who wants to spend 30 minutes trying to balance ONE equation? Seriously, that 30 minutes is probably better-spent doing other things like watching YouTube, checking out latest posts in FB, Instagram, Twitter, uploading pictures to Snapchat, level up in that favorite game of yours or doing other things that will increase your happiness. ![]() There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think it gets a little daunting when it comes to having to keep track of multiple numbers of atoms (like 5 or more) and it will prolong the process unnecessarily. ![]() Most of the students I have worked with only knew Method 1 from their high school science/chemistry class. My quick google search seems to point towards Method 1 (by inspection or trial-error-method) and Method 2 (writing down atom counts) being the most popular methods when it comes to balancing equations. Last week I posted on the three methods to balance chemical equations.
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