Skip to Content Skip to Header Navigation

Balancing Chemical Equations - Questions 16 Help

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hold down the T key for 3 seconds to activate the audio accessibility mode, at which point you can click the K key to pause and resume audio. Useful for the Check Your Understanding and See Answers.

A balanced chemical equation shows the number of particles of each substance involved in a chemical reaction. Such an equation includes formulas and coefficients. The formulas include symbols for each type of atom in the substance. The coefficients are the numbers present in front of the formulas. The act of balancing a chemical equation involves selecting the lowest possible set of coefficients that would provide the same number of atoms of each element on the reactant and the product side of the equation.

There are two questions in this Question Group. The two questions are very similar or are of similar difficulty level. The question below is one of the questions.
 

Version 1:
Identify the lowest possible whole number coefficients that balance the chemical equation. Then conduct an atom count for each element.
 

Al(OH)3 → Al2O3 + H2O

To be successful with this question, you need to know what a balanced chemical equation involves. You also need to have a good strategy for how to balance a chemical equation. Finally, you will need to make sure you know how to conduct an Atom Count. The two infographics below describe these three ideas. Study the graphics, giving particular attention to the Know How to Count Atoms, the Step-by-Step Balancing Method, and the Example sections in the second infographic. Some specific information regarding this question are provided after the second infographic.

 





 

Some Specifics About This Question Group

The two versions of questions in this Question Group have very little in common other than that they can both be successfully approached using the usual step-by-step method discussed in the infographic above works. Begin with an element that is present in only one formula on the reactant and product side. Balance that element first; then balance the other element that shares this same characteristic. Using this method, the third and final element will typically come out balanced. Do an atom count to insure that this is the case.