Balancing Chemical Equations

Front

What is a balanced chemical equation?

Back

A balanced chemical equation has the same number of each type of atom on both sides of the equation, indicating that mass is conserved during the reaction.

Front

What are reactants in a chemical equation?

Back

Reactants are the substances that undergo a chemical change in a reaction, found on the left side of the equation.

Front

What are products in a chemical equation?

Back

Products are the substances formed as a result of a chemical reaction, found on the right side of the equation.

Front

What does the arrow in a chemical equation represent?

Back

The arrow indicates the direction of the reaction, showing that reactants are transformed into products.

Front

How do you determine if a chemical equation is balanced?

Back

Count the number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation; if they are equal, the equation is balanced.

Front

What is the law of conservation of mass?

Back

The law states that mass cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction; the total mass of reactants equals the total mass of products.

Front

What is a coefficient in a chemical equation?

Back

A coefficient is a number placed in front of a chemical formula to indicate how many molecules or moles of that substance are involved in the reaction.

Front

What is a subscript in a chemical formula?

Back

A subscript indicates the number of atoms of an element in a molecule; for example, in H2O, the '2' indicates there are two hydrogen atoms.

Front

How many elements are in the compound C6H12O6?

Back

There are 3 different elements: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O).

Front

What does it mean for an equation to be unbalanced?

Back

An unbalanced equation has a different number of atoms of one or more elements on each side, violating the law of conservation of mass.