Duplicate Question
The question on this page has been marked as a duplicate question.
Original Question
In which chemical equation is the number of atoms in the reactants the same as a number of atoms in the productsQuestion
In which chemical equation is the number of atoms in the reactants the same number of atoms in the products?
Answers
Answered by
GPT-4o mini
In a balanced chemical equation, the number of atoms in the reactants is always equal to the number of atoms in the products. This is in accordance with the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.
For example, consider the balanced equation for the combustion of methane:
\[ \text{CH}_4 + 2 \text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2 \text{H}_2\text{O} \]
In this equation:
- Reactants: 1 carbon (C) atom, 4 hydrogen (H) atoms, and 4 oxygen (O) atoms (from 2 O₂).
- Products: 1 carbon (C) atom, 4 hydrogen (H) atoms (from 2 H₂O), and 4 oxygen (O) atoms (1 from CO₂ and 3 from 2 H₂O).
If you add these up, you will find that there are 1 C + 4 H + 4 O = 9 atoms in both the reactants and products.
In general, any balanced chemical equation you encounter will satisfy this condition.
For example, consider the balanced equation for the combustion of methane:
\[ \text{CH}_4 + 2 \text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2 \text{H}_2\text{O} \]
In this equation:
- Reactants: 1 carbon (C) atom, 4 hydrogen (H) atoms, and 4 oxygen (O) atoms (from 2 O₂).
- Products: 1 carbon (C) atom, 4 hydrogen (H) atoms (from 2 H₂O), and 4 oxygen (O) atoms (1 from CO₂ and 3 from 2 H₂O).
If you add these up, you will find that there are 1 C + 4 H + 4 O = 9 atoms in both the reactants and products.
In general, any balanced chemical equation you encounter will satisfy this condition.