Number of Atoms
The law of conservation of matter states the following: In a chemical reaction the mass of the reactant is always equal to the mass of the products. Also, this means that the number of atoms on each side of a chemical equation must be the same. Watch the following video to learn how to count the number of atoms in a chemical equation.
Because the Law of Conservation of Matter, the number of atoms of an element must be the same on the reactant and the product side of a chemical equation. We call this process of equalizing the number of atoms on each side of a chemical equation, balancing a chemical equation.
Balancing a Chemical Equation
There are a set of rules that can be used to balance a chemical equation.
- Write out the unbalanced equation.
- Write out the number of atoms of each element on each side of the equation (reactants and products)
- Start with an element that occurs in one substance on both sides of the equation
- Continue changing the coefficients to balance all elements
- Generally, save O and H for last.
For some practice with balancing chemical equations, click on "Game" to practice balancing chemical equations. Additionally, you can click on the "Practice Quiz" button to complete practice questions.