Homework Help Forum: chemistry

Posted by Carter on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 5:55pm.

How do you compare and contrast a chemical equation and an ionic equation? Is a chemical equation any equation while an ionic equation deals with the gain/loss of electrons? A chemical equation usually consists of what I call a molecular equation whereas an ionic equation (or the net ionic equation) shows the ions that react. As an example, a molecular equation might be the one below. AgNO3(aq) + NaCl(aq) ==> AgCl(s) + NaNO3(aq) (aq) means aqueous solutons, (s) means solid (insoluble). we can turn this into an ionic equation by knowing that the AgNO3 and NaCl are ionic compounds and when they go into solution, the solid crystal lattice breaks and the ions then move around in the solution. Ag+)aq) + NO3-(aq) + Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)==>AgNO3(s) + Na+(aq) + NO3-(aq) The NET ionic equation is Ag+(aq) + Cl-(aq) ==>AgCl(s) This may be more than you ever wanted to know about molecular and ionic/net ionic equations but I shall be happy to follow up on anything you wish. Probably I should have noted that the ionic equation is turned into the net ionic equation by canceling those ions that appear on both sides of the equation. Thank you. I think this is what the teacher was asking for.

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