Question

Balance the following Equation ... ____KNO3 --> ____KNO2 + ____O2

Answer 1

To balance the chemical equation \( \text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow \text{KNO}_2 + \text{O}_2 \), we follow these steps:

1. **Count the number of atoms of each element** on both sides of the equation.
2. **Adjust coefficients** to get the same number of each type of atom on both sides.

Let's write the unbalanced equation first:

\[
\text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow \text{KNO}_2 + \text{O}_2
\]

### Step 1: Identify the Reactants and Products
- **Reactants**: 1 K, 1 N, 3 O (from KNO3)
- **Products**: 1 K, 1 N, 2 O (from KNO2) + 2 O (from O2)

### Step 2: Balancing Oxygen
The left side has 3 oxygen atoms (from KNO3), and the right side has a total of 4 oxygen atoms (2 from KNO2 and 2 from O2). So, we need to balance it:

If we start with 2 KNO3, we get:

\[
2 \text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow 2 \text{KNO}_2 + \text{O}_2
\]

Now we calculate again:

- **Reactants**: 2 K, 2 N, 6 O (from 2 KNO3)
- **Products**: 2 K, 2 N, (2 O from KNO2 + 2 O from O2 = 4 O)

Thus, we can adjust coefficients again.

To achieve 6 O on the product side, let's try adjusting:

\[
4 \text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow 4 \text{KNO}_2 + 2 \text{O}_2
\]

### Final Check
**Reactants**:
- 4 K, 4 N, 12 O

**Products**:
- 4 K, 4 N, (4 O from KNO2 + 4 O from 2 O2 = 12 O)

Both sides are now equal.

### Final Balanced Equation
\[
4 \text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow 4 \text{KNO}_2 + 2 \text{O}_2
\]

So the balanced equation is:

\[
\boxed{4 \text{KNO}_3 \rightarrow 4 \text{KNO}_2 + 2 \text{O}_2}
\]