A Compound Containing 3 Atoms Of Carbon And 8 Atoms Of Hydrogen Is Combined In A Reaction With Oxygen Molecules. The Two End Products Of This Equation Are Carbon Dioxide And Water. What Element Should You Look At First In Balancing This Equation?
C3H8 + n O2 -> 3CO2 + 4H2O is the reaction. That results from the number of H and C atoms in the C3H8, and the products they tell you exist.
To balance it, use the fact that
2n = 10
which is based upon the number of O atoms in the reaction.
Carbon
To balance this chemical equation, we need to first identify an element to focus on. In this case, the element that stands out is carbon (C), as it appears in two different compounds: the compound containing 3 atoms of carbon and the product carbon dioxide (CO2).
To balance the equation, we can start by balancing the carbon atoms on both sides. Since there are 3 carbon atoms in the compound and 1 carbon atom in carbon dioxide, we can put a coefficient of 3 in front of carbon dioxide:
C3H8 + O2 ⟶ 3CO2 + H2O
Now, let's move on to the next element, hydrogen (H). There are 8 hydrogen atoms in the compound but only 2 hydrogen atoms in water (H2O). To balance the hydrogen atoms, we can put a coefficient of 4 in front of water:
C3H8 + O2 ⟶ 3CO2 + 4H2O
Finally, we need to check if there is any element left unbalanced. In this case, the element remaining is oxygen (O). On the left side of the equation, we have two oxygen atoms from oxygen molecules (O2), but on the right side, we have already balanced the oxygen atoms with 3 carbon dioxide molecules (3CO2) and 4 water molecules (4H2O). Therefore, the oxygen atoms are already balanced.
The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is:
C3H8 + 5O2 ⟶ 3CO2 + 4H2O
So, to answer your question, the element you should look at first in balancing this equation is carbon (C).