A student writes this chemical equation. You see that it is incorrect as written.

1N2 +4H2 → 2NH3 + 1H2


1 diatomic nitrogen ( 1N2
) and 4 diatomic hydrogen ( 4H2
) produce 2 ammonia ( 2NH3
) with 1 diatomic hydrogen ( 1H2
) left over. How can you correct the equation?

(1 point)
Responses

Remove a H2
molecule from the left side of the equation.
Remove a h sub 2 molecule from the left side of the equation.

Remove a NH3
molecule from the right side of the equation.
Remove a n h sub 3 molecule from the right side of the equation.

Add another N2
molecule to the left side of the equation.
Add another n sub 2 molecule to the left side of the equation.

Remove a H2
molecule from both the left and right sides of the equation.

1 answer

To correct the given chemical equation, we need to ensure that the number of atoms of each element is balanced on both sides of the equation.

The original equation is:

\[ 1N_2 + 4H_2 \rightarrow 2NH_3 + 1H_2 \]

On the left side, there are:

  • 2 nitrogen (N) atoms (from 1N₂)
  • 8 hydrogen (H) atoms (from 4H₂)

On the right side, there are:

  • 2 nitrogen (N) atoms (from 2NH₃)
  • 7 hydrogen (H) atoms (6 from 2NH₃ + 1 from 1H₂)

This means that the hydrogen is not balanced, as there are 8 H atoms on the left and only 7 on the right.

To balance it, we can remove 1 molecule of H₂ from the left side:

This results in the following corrected equation:

\[ 1N_2 + 3H_2 \rightarrow 2NH_3 \]

This equation now has:

  • 2 nitrogen (N) atoms on both sides
  • 6 hydrogen (H) atoms on both sides (3H₂ on the left gives 6 H)

Therefore, the correct response is:

Remove a H₂ molecule from the left side of the equation.