Balancing Chemical Equations

Question

A.) BaO2 ------> BaO + O₂

_{B.) Mg(CIO3)2 ---------> MgCl2 + O2}

_{C.) H2O2 ---------> H2O + O2}

_{D.) C6H14 + O2 --------> CO2 + H2O}

Answer 1

I will go over one chemical equation so as not to give away the answer for all four equations.

A. ___BaO2---->____BaO +____O2

When balancing a chemical equation, you have to determine which coefficient should be placed and where (in front of which molecule) in order to balance the the number of elements on each side.

By looking at the equation, there is one Ba element on each side. However, the amount of oxygen on the reactants side is not equal to the oxygen on the products side. Therefore, a coefficient of 1 in front of each molecule isn't sufficient.

2BaO2---->___BaO+_____O2

Since 1 as a coefficient wasn't sufficient, you can try to increase the coefficient gradually. Here, I increased the number of BaO2 molecules to 2 molecules by adding a coefficient of 2. However, now we have to balance the number of Ba elements by adding another coefficient of 2 in front of BaO as shown below.

2BaO2---->2BaO+_____O2

Not only are the Ba elements balanced, but the amount of oxygen on each side is balanced as well (there are four oxygens on each side)

The final balanced equation will look like this: 2BaO2---->2BaO+O2