Balancing Chemical Equations Science 10

Word Equation Every chemical reaction can be presented as a word equation. The word equation will then be used to build a skeleton equation and finally a balanced chemical equation Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water

Skeleton Equation An unbalanced equation is developed from the word equation: Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water __H2 + __O2  __H2O

Balanced Equation The balanced equation is produced using the lowest possible ratio in front of each element or compound to have the same number and type of atoms on each side Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water (word) __H2 + __O2  __H2O (skeleton) 2 H2 + 1 O2  2 H2O (balanced)

MINOH A standard approach can be helpful in balancing chemical equations The MINOH method provides the order in which elements will be considered when balancing an chemical equation M – metals I – polyatomic ions N – non-metals (except oxygen and hydrogen) O – oxygen H - hydrogen

Balancing M I N O H __H2 + __O2  __H2O 2 2 O - H - 2 4 O - H - 1 2 2

Balancing M I N O H __H2SO4 + __NaOH  __H2O +__Na2SO4 2 2 Na - SO4 – 1 3 2 4 Na - SO4 – O – H - 2 1 2 4

Balancing M I N O H __C3H8 + __O2  __CO2 +__H2O 5 3 4 C - O – H – 3 2 10 C - O – H – 1 3 2 3 7 10 8

Practice Problems MINOH Practice Sheet Problems 1-20