I'm trying to balance this chemical equation but it's just not working.
C7H14O2+O2 yields CO2 + H20
I'm having problems getting the zeros to balance since there's two zeros on both sides. One of the 0's is just on it's on, not in 2 or an even number so I think that's throwing me off. How do you get the answer and what is it? Thanks!
To balance the given chemical equation, C7H14O2 + O2 → CO2 + H2O, you need to follow a systematic approach. Here are the steps to balance the equation:
Step 1: Start by balancing the atoms other than oxygen and hydrogen. In this equation, we have carbon (C) and hydrogen (H).
Count the number of carbon (C) atoms on both sides of the equation:
Left side: 7 carbon atoms
Right side: 1 carbon atom (in CO2)
To balance the carbon (C) atoms, place a coefficient of 7 in front of CO2:
C7H14O2 + O2 → 7CO2 + H2O
Now, count the hydrogen (H) atoms on both sides of the equation:
Left side: 14 hydrogen atoms (7 in C7H14O2 and 7 in H2O)
Right side: 2 hydrogen atoms (in H2O)
To balance the hydrogen (H) atoms, place a coefficient of 7 in front of H2O:
C7H14O2 + O2 → 7CO2 + 7H2O
Step 2: Now, balance the oxygen (O) atoms. Count the number of oxygen (O) atoms on both sides of the equation:
Left side: 2 oxygen atoms (in C7H14O2)
Right side: 14 oxygen atoms (7 in CO2 and 7 in H2O)
To balance the oxygen (O) atoms, place a coefficient of 7 in front of O2:
C7H14O2 + 7O2 → 7CO2 + 7H2O
The balanced equation is:
C7H14O2 + 7O2 → 7CO2 + 7H2O
Please note that it is important to balance the equation by adjusting the coefficients, not changing the subscripts of the formulas, as it would give you different compounds.
To balance a chemical equation, we want to make sure that the number of atoms on both sides of the equation are equal. In this case, let's start with carbon (C) and count the number of atoms on each side:
On the left side (reactants), we have 7 carbon atoms (C7H14O2) and on the right side (products), we have 1 carbon atom (CO2). To balance the carbon atoms, we need to put a coefficient in front of CO2.
Since 7 is an odd number, it cannot be evenly divided by 2, so we can't simply put 7 in front of CO2. Instead, we'll need to find the least common multiple (LCM) of 7 and 1, which is 7. Therefore, we can put a coefficient of 7 in front of CO2:
C7H14O2 + O2 → 7CO2 + H2O
Now let's balance the hydrogen (H) atoms:
On the left side, we have 14 hydrogen atoms (C7H14O2) and on the right side, we have 2 hydrogen atoms (H2O). To balance the hydrogen atoms, we need to put a coefficient in front of H2O.
Since 14 is an even number, we can divide it by 2 to get 7. Therefore, we'll put a coefficient of 7 in front of H2O:
C7H14O2 + O2 → 7CO2 + 7H2O
Finally, let's balance the oxygen (O) atoms:
On the left side, we have 2 oxygen atoms (C7H14O2) and on the right side, we have 14 oxygen atoms (7CO2 + 7H2O). To balance the oxygen atoms, we need to put a coefficient in front of O2.
Since 2 is an even number, we can divide it by 2 to get 1. Therefore, we'll put a coefficient of 1 in front of O2:
C7H14O2 + O2 → 7CO2 + 7H2O
Now the equation is balanced with 7 carbon atoms, 14 hydrogen atoms, and 14 oxygen atoms on both sides.
First, those aren't zeros. They are oxygen atoms.
2C7H14O2 + 19O2 ==> 14CO2 + 14H2O