Question

Balance the following reaction CH4 + O2 CO2 + H2O

Answer 1

To balance the chemical reaction \( \text{CH}_4 + \text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + \text{H}_2\text{O} \), we follow these steps:

1. **Count the number of atoms of each element in the reactants and products:**
- Reactants:
- C: 1 (from CH₄)
- H: 4 (from CH₄)
- O: 2 (from O₂)
- Products:
- C: 1 (from CO₂)
- H: 2 (from H₂O)
- O: 3 (2 from CO₂ and 1 from H₂O)

2. **Start with one CH₄ and one CO₂ for carbon:**
- C: 1 on both sides (balanced)

3. **Balance hydrogen:**
- There are 4 H in CH₄ and 2 H in H₂O. To balance, we need 2 molecules of H₂O:
\[
\text{CH}_4 + \text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2\text{H}_2\text{O}
\]

4. **Count the atoms again:**
- Now the products are:
- H: 4 (from 2 H₂O)
- O: 2 (from CO₂) + 2 (from 2 H₂O) = 4 O

5. **Balance oxygen:**
- We have 2 O atoms from O₂ in the reactants. Since we need 4 O atoms on the products side, we will need 2 O₂ molecules:
\[
\text{CH}_4 + 2\text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2\text{H}_2\text{O}
\]

Now we can see the final balanced equation:

\[
\text{CH}_4 + 2\text{O}_2 \rightarrow \text{CO}_2 + 2\text{H}_2\text{O}
\]

This way, the equation is balanced with respect to all elements.