Question

Balance the following equations
$Zn+KOH\to {{K}_{2}}Zn{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}$

Answer 1

Hint: While balancing a chemical equation, we must always make sure that the elements on both sides of the equation have equal numbers of atoms.
The number written in the subscripts are the number of atoms of that particular element which is involved in making that specific molecule.

Complete step by step answer:
A balanced equation or a balanced chemical equation, is a chemical equation, in which mass is conserved and the numbers of atoms of each element are equal on either side of the equation
In order to write a balanced chemical equation, there are a set of rules which we are supposed to follow, those are given below.
At the beginning we determine the correct chemical formulas with which we will denote each reactant and product.
Now we write the skeleton equation, which means the unbalanced chemical equation.
Then we will count the number of atoms of every element which appears in the form of reactant as well as product.
Now finally we balance each element involved in the reaction, one at a time simply by placing coefficients in front of the formulas.
Then we will make sure that all coefficients which we have written are in the lowest possible ratio. And if necessary, reduce them to the lowest ratio.
Now if we consider the equation which is given in the question, $Zn+KOH\to {{K}_{2}}Zn{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}$, we will consider the number of atoms on both the side of the equation.
At first, the number of zinc on both the sides are equal, so we don’t need any multiplication factor to balance both the sides.
Then, the potassium hydroxide on the reactant side contains one potassium atom, and the right side of the equation contains two potassium atoms in potassium zincate.
So, we need to balance it out on the left side too, by multiplying it with two.
Then the oxygen atoms will also balance out on both the sides as we multiplied the potassium hydroxide with two, and so does the number of atoms of hydrogen.
$Zn+2KOH\to {{K}_{2}}Zn{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}$
Which is the final form of the balanced equation.

Note: While balancing a chemical equation we need to make sure that the number of atoms of all the elements involved in the reaction should be the same on both sides.
In order to make sure that both the sides have equal number of atoms, we add necessary multiplication factors to the molecules and then accordingly check if the number became the same on both the sides.