Question

balancing act
name
atoms are not or during a chemical reaction.
scientists know that there must be the number of atoms on each of
the. to balance the chemical equation, you must add in front
of the chemical formulas in the equation. you cannot or subscripts!

1. determine number of atoms for each
2. pick an element that is not equal on

both sides of the equation.

1. add a coefficient in front of the

formula with that element and adjust
your counts.

1. continue adding coefficients to get the

same number of atoms of each element
on each side.
try these:

Explanation:

Step1: Balance the hydrogen and oxygen atoms

For the reaction \(H_2O_2
ightarrow H_2O + O_2\), let the coefficients be \(a\), \(b\), and \(c\) for \(H_2O_2\), \(H_2O\), and \(O_2\) respectively. So the equation becomes \(aH_2O_2 = bH_2O + cO_2\).
For hydrogen atoms: \(2a = 2b\) (since each \(H_2O_2\) has 2 H atoms and each \(H_2O\) has 2 H atoms).
For oxygen atoms: \(2a=b + 2c\) (each \(H_2O_2\) has 2 O atoms, each \(H_2O\) has 1 O atom, and each \(O_2\) has 2 O atoms).
From \(2a = 2b\), we get \(a = b\). Substitute \(a = b\) into \(2a=b + 2c\), we have \(2a=a + 2c\), then \(a=2c\). Let \(c = 1\), then \(a = 2\) and \(b = 2\).

Answer:

\(2H_2O_2
ightarrow 2H_2O + 1O_2\)