Is this equation for acetic acid + sodium chloride balanced?
C2H4O2 + NaCl ---> HCl + C2H3NaO2
No but why can't you do this? You NEVER have to write an equation and ask if it's balanced. You count the atoms and see.
I cuont 2C on th left and 2 on the right.
I count 4 H on the left and 3 on the right so it isn't balanced.
This isn't part of the question but I doubt you can make HCl this way. It will work with H2SO4 and NaCl.
To check if the equation is balanced, count the number of atoms on each side of the equation.
On the left side of the equation:
- Carbon (C): 2
- Hydrogen (H): 4
- Oxygen (O): 2
- Sodium (Na): 1
- Chlorine (Cl): 1
On the right side of the equation:
- Hydrogen (H): 1
- Chlorine (Cl): 1
- Sodium (Na): 1
- Carbon (C): 2
- Oxygen (O): 2
From the counts, we can see that the number of atoms of each element is not the same on both sides of the equation. Therefore, the equation is not balanced.
To balance the equation, we can adjust the coefficients (numbers in front of each compound) until the number of atoms on both sides is equal. The balanced equation should be:
2C2H4O2 + 2NaCl ---> 2HCl + C4H6Na2O4