Question

use the drop - down menus below to create a balanced chemical equation.
fe₂o₃ + 3h₂ → fe + h₂o

Explanation:

Step1: Balance Fe atoms

On the left - hand side, there are 2 Fe atoms in \(Fe_{2}O_{3}\). So, the coefficient of Fe on the right - hand side should be 2.

Step2: Balance O and H atoms

We have 3 O atoms in \(Fe_{2}O_{3}\). In \(H_{2}O\), if the coefficient of \(H_{2}O\) is 3, then the number of O atoms is balanced (3 O atoms on both sides).
For H atoms: on the left - hand side, we have \(3H_{2}\) (6 H atoms). On the right - hand side, if the coefficient of \(H_{2}O\) is 3 (\(3H_{2}O\)), then the number of H atoms is also 6 (since each \(H_{2}O\) has 2 H atoms, \(3\times2 = 6\)).

Answer:

The first drop - down menu should be \(2\) (for Fe) and the second drop - down menu should be \(3\) (for \(H_{2}O\)). So the balanced equation is \(Fe_{2}O_{3}+3H_{2}\to2Fe + 3H_{2}O\)