Suppose you were balancing a chemical equation that contained the substance sodium nitrate, NaNO3, composed of a sodium ion, Na+1, and a nitrate ion, (NO3)-1. Could you change any of these numbers in order to balance the equation?

Given an angle of 30 degrees, find the minimum initial speed of a cannon ball that travels in a horizontal distance of 15000 mi.

Yes

To balance a chemical equation, you need to make sure that the number of atoms on each side of the equation is the same. In the case of sodium nitrate, NaNO3, it consists of one sodium ion and one nitrate ion. These ions have different charges, so you cannot change the numbers of sodium or nitrate ions in the equation. However, you can balance the equation by adjusting the coefficients in front of the chemical formula.

A balanced chemical equation for the reaction involving sodium nitrate would look something like this:

2 NaNO3 -> 2 NaNO2 + O2

In this balanced equation, you can see that there are now two sodium nitrate molecules on the left side (reactant side) and two sodium nitrite molecules and one oxygen molecule on the right side (product side). The equation is now balanced because the number of sodium, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms are the same on both sides.

In summary, to balance a chemical equation, you can adjust the coefficients in front of the chemical formulas, but you cannot change the subscripts or the charges on the ions.