What is the coefficient of oxygen in the following equation for the reaction of potassium (K) with oxygen (O2) to form potassium oxide (K2O?
__ K + ___ O2 -> ___ K2O
is it 4, 3, 2, or 1?
4K + O2 ==> 2K2O
So would that be a 1 for the coefficient?
A 1 is understood when no other coefficient is there.
To determine the coefficient of oxygen in the given equation, we need to balance the equation first.
Let's start by counting the number of atoms on each side of the equation. On the left side, we have 1 potassium atom (K). On the right side, we have 2 potassium atoms (K) in potassium oxide (K2O).
Next, let's consider oxygen. On the left side, we have no oxygen atoms (O). On the right side, we have 1 oxygen atom (O) in potassium oxide (K2O).
Since the number of atoms in a balanced equation should be the same on both sides, we need to add oxygen (O) to the left side of the equation.
To balance the equation, we need to have 1 oxygen atom on each side. To achieve this, we add a coefficient of 2 in front of potassium oxide (K2O):
2 K + ___ O2 -> 2 K2O
Now, we can see that there are 2 oxygen atoms (O) on the right side of the equation, so the coefficient of oxygen (O2) is 2.
Therefore, the answer is 2.