Balancing Equations

Page 1

Conservation of Mass

The law of conservation of mass states that no atoms are lost or made during a chemical reaction so the mass of the products equals the

mass of the reactants.

This means that chemical reactions can be represented by symbol equations which are balanced in terms of the numbers of atoms of

each element involved on both sides of the equation. i.e. there must be equal numbers of each type of atom on each side of the equation

Page 2

Examples of Balancing Equations

The following method shows how to balance an equation involving multiple compounds.

When balancing equations involving organic compounds, always balance the carbon first.

The following equation is for aerobic respiration.

Try to balance the following equation yourself before going onto the next page.

This equation shows the reaction of iron and oxygen to form iron(III) oxide, or rust.

\( Fe + O_2 \rightarrow Fe_2O_3\)

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Examples of Balancing Equations