Look at the chemical equation below:

Question

4Fe + 30(2) -> Fe(2)O(3)

The products in this equation are not balanced. How many molecules of are needed to balance the equation?

HINT: Figure out how many iron atoms you have on each side, then, figure out which coefficient would make them equal.

Answer 1

In the balanced equation, there are 4 iron atoms on the left side and only 1 iron atom on the right side. To balance the equation, we need to have an equal number of iron atoms on both sides.

To do this, we need to add a coefficient of 4 in front of Fe(2)O(3) on the right side. This way, we will have 4 iron atoms on both sides:

4Fe + 3O(2) -> 2Fe(2)O(3)

So, we would need 2 molecules of Fe(2)O(3) to balance the equation.