Question

hint you only need to add coefficients where the orange boxes are!

Explanation:

Step1: Balance oxygen atoms

Oxygen atoms before balancing: \(1\) (from \(HgO\)). Oxygen atoms after balancing: \(2\) (from \(O_2\)). To balance oxygen, put a coefficient of \(2\) in front of \(HgO\). Now the equation is \(2HgO
ightarrow\square Hg + O_2\).

Step2: Balance mercury atoms

Mercury atoms before balancing (after step1): \(2\) (from \(2HgO\)). So put a coefficient of \(2\) in front of \(Hg\). The balanced equation is \(2HgO
ightarrow2Hg + O_2\).

Answer:

The first box (coefficient for \(HgO\)) is \(2\), and the second box (coefficient for \(Hg\)) is \(2\).

For the left - hand table:

• For \(Hg\): number of atoms before balancing is \(1\) (from \(HgO\)), after balancing is \(2\) (from \(2Hg\)).
• For \(O\): number of atoms before balancing is \(1\) (from \(HgO\)), after balancing is \(2\) (from \(O_2\)).

For the right - hand table (assuming it's a duplicate or a mis - label, but following the same logic as the left - hand table for the balanced equation):

• For \(Hg\): number of atoms before balancing (if we consider the un - balanced form as \(HgO

ightarrow Hg+O_2\)) is \(1\), after balancing is \(2\).

• For \(O\): number of atoms before balancing is \(1\), after balancing is \(2\).