Question

How would you balance the following double replacement equation?
$LiN{O_3}\, + \,BaC{l_2}\, \to \,?$

Answer 1

Hint:Firstly write the complete equation means the products formed after the reaction of lithium nitrate with barium chloride. While balancing a chemical equation we have to keep in mind that the number of atoms on each side should be equal. We can multiply the stoichiometric coefficient of each reactant and product and make each type of atom the same.

Complete step-by-step answer:When lithium nitrate reacts with barium chloride they give products as lithium chloride and barium nitrate. The formula of lithium chloride is $LiCl$ and for barium nitrate is $Ba{(N{O_3})_2}$ so we can write the complete reaction as-
$LiN{O_3}\, + \,BaC{l_2}\, \to \,LiCl\, + \,Ba{(N{O_3})_2} - - - - - - - - - - (1)$
Now our next step is to balance the reaction that can be done when we change the stoichiometry of reactants and products. So, let’s count the number of atoms on right hand and left hand side, there are $(1Li,\,1N,\,1Ba,\,3O\,and\,2Cl)$ on left hand side and $(1Li,\,2N,\,1Ba,\,6O\,\,and\,1Cl)$ on right hand side. Let’s try to balance them first by multiplying the left hand side. This is because the left hand side has fewer atoms.
If we multiply lithium nitrate by number $2$ , by this the equation becomes as,
$2LiN{O_3}\, + \,BaC{l_2}\, \to \,LiCl\, + \,Ba{(N{O_3})_2} - - - - - - - - - - (2)$ Here, the number of nitrogen and oxygen becomes equal on both sides but other atoms are still unbalanced. So, multiply lithium chloride with $2$ we see that on both sides we get the equal number of atoms of each type.
Thus the balanced chemical equation is- $2LiN{O_3}\, + \,BaC{l_2}\, \to \,2LiCl\, + \,Ba{(N{O_3})_2} - - - - - - - - - - (3)$

Note:The balancing of chemical equations is very important because by this process we get to know the moles of reactant used and products formed. Here, we get an idea that $2\,moles\,of\,LiN{O_3}$ reacts with $1\,moles\,of\,Barium\,chloride$ and gives $(2\,mole)\,of\,Lithium\,chloride\,and\,(1\,mole)\,of\,barium\,nitrate$ . There are other methods also available for balancing like oxidation reduction method and electron method.