Recognizing Reactions and Predicting Products

The following sections describe five types of reactions that you d do well to recognize (notice how their names tell you what happens in each reaction). By recognizing the patterns of these five types of reactions, you can often predict reaction products when given only a set of reactants. (Note Figuring out the formulas of products often requires you to apply knowledge about how ionic and molecular compounds are put together. To review these concepts, see Chapters 5 and 6.) 

In combination (sometimes called synthesis), two or more reactants combine to form a single product, following the general pattern 

The combining of elements to form compounds (like NaCl) is a particularly common kind of combination reaction. Here s another example  

Compounds can also combine to form new compounds, such as in the combination of sodium oxide with water to form sodium hydroxide  

In decomposition, a single reactant breaks down (decomposes) into two or more products, following the general pattern 

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