Question

How would you balance the following equation:
\[C{{H}_{4}}+{{O}_{2}}\to C{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}O\]

Answer 1

Hint: The law of conservation of mass attributes for balancing a chemical equation. When we are taking a number of elements, if the element has both subscript and coefficient in order to get the number of elements we should multiply subscript and coefficient.

Complete step by step answer:
The law of conservation of mass attributes for balancing a chemical equation. The law of conservation of mass which states that the atoms are neither created nor destroyed. Chemical equation is the representation of a chemical reaction where the reactants react to give products. In a chemical equation the substance that is left to the arrow is called reactant and the substance that is to the right of the arrow is called product.
The exact theory behind balancing chemical equations - Applying the law of conservation of mass to a chemical, there is no atom destroyed from the reactant side nor created in the product, so the number of elements in the reactant is equal to the number of elements in the product.
Let's try a trial and error method, where we will check if the number of elements in the reactant is equal to the number of elements in the product and balance the given chemical equation:
  \[C{{H}_{4}}+{{O}_{2}}\to C{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}O\]
- In the above chemical equation, the number of C atoms in the reactant side and product side are equal.
-The number of H atoms in the reactant side is 4 and the number of H atoms in the product side is 2. Now, in order to balance this let's add 2 before ${{H}_{2}}O$.
\[C{{H}_{4}}+{{O}_{2}}\to C{{O}_{2}}+2{{H}_{2}}O\]……….equation 1
-If we observe equation 1, the number of O atoms in the reactant side is 2 and 4 in the product side. So, let's add 2 before ${{O}_{2}}$ in order to balance the chemical equation.
\[C{{H}_{4}}+2{{O}_{2}}\to C{{O}_{2}}+2{{H}_{2}}O\]……...equation 2
Now, if we observe equation 2 all the atoms are equal in number on both sides. Thus the balanced chemical equation is:
\[C{{H}_{4}}+2{{O}_{2}}\to C{{O}_{2}}+2{{H}_{2}}O\]

Note: In a balanced chemical equation the number of particular elements in a reactant should be equal to the number of elements in the product. The law of conservation of mass attributes for balancing a chemical equation. We should perform certain trial and error as illustrated in the above explanation.