To balance the unbalanced chemical equation \(2 \text{NaHCO}_3 \rightarrow \text{Na}_2\text{CO}_3 + \text{CO}_2\), we can first rewrite the equation in a clearer format and then check the conservation of atoms.
Given:
\[ 2 \text{NaHCO}_3 \rightarrow \text{Na}_2\text{CO}_3 + \text{CO}_2 \]
Breakdown of the reaction components:
- Reactants:
- 2 NaHCO₃: 2 Na, 2 C, 6 O, 2 H
- Products:
- 1 Na₂CO₃: 2 Na, 1 C, 3 O
- 1 CO₂: 1 C, 2 O
Counting the components in products gives us:
- Total in products:
- 2 Na (from Na₂CO₃)
- 2 C (1 from Na₂CO₃ and 1 from CO₂)
- 5 O (3 from Na₂CO₃ and 2 from CO₂)
- 0 H
From the reactants, we started with:
- 2 H (from 2 NaHCO₃), meaning we'd need to introduce something to balance the hydrogen.
Since H is present in the reactants but not in the products, we can conclude we need water (H₂O) to balance out the equation.
To balance this equation properly, we can add:
\[ \text{H}_2\text{O} \]
The revised equation would then look like:
\[ 2 \text{NaHCO}_3 \rightarrow \text{Na}_2\text{CO}_3 + \text{CO}_2 + \text{H}_2\text{O} \]
This configuration ensures that we balance the number of Hydrogen, Carbon, Sodium, and Oxygen atoms on both sides of the equation.