

To prove that this algebraic technique works. It was a real shock when I realized the power of It provides better solutions than chemistry itself! SuchĪn idea might seem a bit strange for a chemist. Mathematics provides a general way to find reaction coefficients. Luckily it turns out that oxidation numbers and half-reaction are unnecessary! Another method exists that uses algebra to find the In some cases however it is hard to use this method because oxidation numbers cannot be unequivocally attributed. The classical approach uses oxidation numbers and many chemists cannot imagine any way to find the solution other than balancing half-reactions for the process.

Methane and oxygen react to yield carbon dioxide and water in a 1:2:1:2 ratio. Realize, however, that these coefficients represent the relative numbers of reactants and products, and, therefore, they may be correctly interpreted as ratios.

It is common practice to use the smallest possible whole-number coefficients in a chemical equation, as is done in this example.
#Chemical equation balancer with phases plus#

The reaction between methane and oxygen to yield carbon dioxide and water (shown at bottom) may be represented by a chemical equation using formulas (top). The chemical equation representing this process is provided in the upper half of (Figure), with space-filling molecular models shown in the lower half of the figure. Consider as an example the reaction between one methane molecule (CH 4) and two diatomic oxygen molecules (O 2) to produce one carbon dioxide molecule (CO 2) and two water molecules (H 2O). Extending this symbolism to represent both the identities and the relative quantities of substances undergoing a chemical (or physical) change involves writing and balancing a chemical equation. When atoms gain or lose electrons to yield ions, or combine with other atoms to form molecules, their symbols are modified or combined to generate chemical formulas that appropriately represent these species.
