Balanced Chemical Equations and What They Tell Us

QO BALANCED CHEMICAL EQUATIONS AND WHAT THEY TELL US 

Chemical equations are the best way we have to represent what happens in chemical reactions at the nanoscopic level that we cannot see. An equation will not be faithful to reality if the chemical formulas are wrong or if the equation is not balanced. 

The products of the complete burning, or complete combustion, of any hydrocarbon are always carbon dioxide and water. Thus, for the burning of methane (CH ), the major ingredient in natural gas, the unbalanced equation is 

The G atoms are balanced here—one C on each side of the arrow. But the O and H atoms are not balanced. Often, it is easiest to first balance atoms that 

Now the O atoms must be balanced. With four of them on the right, providing two Og molecules on the left finishes the job  

---

Balanced Chemical Equations and What They Tell Us... 

---