I am having trouble balancing this equation:

C6 H12 06 + O2 = C7 H8 + O2

Can you please help? Thanks

See above for my non-answer.

Thanks, I thought so. I will contact my teacher, maybe I copied it down wrong in class. Thanks for your input. Joanie

Of course! Balancing chemical equations can sometimes be tricky, but there is a systematic approach you can follow to ensure you balance the equation correctly. Here's how to balance the given equation:

1. Start by counting the number of each type of atom on both sides of the equation. In this case, we have:
- Carbon (C): 6 on the left, 7 on the right
- Hydrogen (H): 12 on the left, 8 on the right
- Oxygen (O): 7 on the left, 2 on the right

2. To balance the carbon atoms, you need to add a coefficient in front of C7H8 on the right-hand side to make the number of carbon atoms match on both sides. Since there are 6 carbon atoms in C6H12O6, add a coefficient of 6 in front of C7H8, giving you:

C6H12O6 + O2 → 6C7H8 + O2

Now we just need to balance the hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

3. Balancing the hydrogen atoms: In C6H12O6, there are 12 hydrogen atoms on the left side. To balance this count on the right side, add a coefficient of 6 in front of H2O, which also increases the number of oxygen atoms. The balanced equation becomes:

C6H12O6 + O2 → 6C7H8 + 6H2O + O2

4. Balancing the oxygen atoms: There are now 12 oxygen atoms on the right side and only 7 on the left side. To balance this, add a coefficient of 6 in front of O2 on the left side. The final balanced equation is:

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6C7H8 + 6H2O + O2

And that's it! The equation is now balanced with equal numbers of each type of atom on both sides.