Question

What is the balanced chemical equation for the incomplete combustion of nonane $C_9{H}_{20}$?

Answer 1

Hint: Combustion of any compound is defined as the process in which it gets burned and converted into ashes and in this process no catalyst is required. Nonane is an aliphatic compound having a chain of 9 carbon atoms and showing no conjugation.

Complete answer:
To calculate that how many electrons are transferred in this unbalanced reaction we first have to convert the equation in balanced equation first and this equation can be balanced by considering following steps:
 1. First write the incomplete combustion reaction in an unbalanced form
$C_9{H}_{20}(l)+{\displaystyle \frac{27}{2}}{O}_2(g)\to 8C{O}_2(g)+CO(g)+10H_{2}O(l)$
2. Now compare the total number of each element on the both side now the reaction is not so balanced so we write another equation of incomplete combustion which can be shown as:
$C_9{H}_{20}(l)+13O_2(g)\to 8C{O}_2(g)+C(s)+10H_{2}O(l)$
3. Rather than these two we also have one more incomplete combustion reaction which can be written as:
$C_9{H}_{20}(l)+{\displaystyle \frac{25}{2}}{O}_2(g)\to 7C{O}_2(g)+CO(g)+C(s)+10H_{2}O(l)$
With the help of these three incomplete combustion reactions we can find the complete combustion reaction which can be defined as
$C_9{H}_{20}(l)+14O_2(g)\to 9C{O}_2(g)+10H_{2}O(l)$
 Hence balanced chemical equation for the incomplete combustion of nonane $C_9{H}_{20}$can be written as follows:
$C_9{H}_{20}(l)+14O_2(g)\to 9C{O}_2(g)+10H_{2}O(l)$
We can see that during the balancing of this reaction the number of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms are same in reactant as well as product.

Note:
Balancing of chemical equation involves the addition of stoichiometric coefficients to the reactants and products in such a way that there are same number of atoms of each element on both sides i.e. the number of atoms in reactants are equal to the number of atoms in products.