When balancing the equation \(3H_2 + 1O_2 = 2H_2O\), we can start by assessing the number of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms on each side of the equation.
Original Equation:
\[ 2H_2 + 1O_2 = 2H_2O \]
Balanced Equation with \(3H_2\):
\[ 3H_2 + O_2 \rightarrow 3H_2O \]
Count of Atoms:
-
Reactants:
- Hydrogen (H): \(3 \times 2 = 6\) atoms
- Oxygen (O): \(1 \times 2 = 2\) atoms
-
Products:
- Hydrogen (H): \(3 \times 2 = 6\) atoms
- Oxygen (O): \(3 \times 1 = 3\) atoms
Now let's see if it's balanced:
- Hydrogen: 6 in reactants, 6 in products (balanced)
- Oxygen: 2 in reactants, 3 in products (not balanced)
Balancing Oxygen:
To balance the oxygen in the updated equation \(3H_2 + O_2 \rightarrow 3H_2O\), we need to adjust the amount of \(O_2\) or the number of water molecules produced.
We realize that with \(3H_2\) creating \(3H_2O\), we actually need: \[ 3H_2 + \frac{3}{2}O_2 \rightarrow 3H_2O \] Or we can change it to a whole number format: \[ 2H_2 + 1O_2 \rightarrow 2H_2O \] (original equation)
The correct reformulation looks something like this if we want to scale: \[ 4H_2 + 2O_2 \rightarrow 4H_2O \] or \[ 6H_2 + 3O_2 \rightarrow 6H_2O \]
Conclusion:
If you change \(2H_2\) to \(3H_2\), the statement is:
- This statement is incorrect without proper adjustments. You need to adjust the coefficient for \(O_2\) as well to properly balance the equation.
The correct statement would be that when changing \(2H_2\) to \(3H_2\), both the amounts of oxygen and water produced must also be modified to achieve a balanced chemical reaction.