Would the molecular ratio of the equation 4Na + O2 = 2Na2O be 4:2?
Is the oxygen supposed to be there? I would list the ratio as 4:1:2 unless you are specifically doing the ratio between Na and Na2O. In that case 4:2 can be reduced to 2:1
To determine the molecular ratio of an equation, you need to analyze the coefficients (the numbers in front of each chemical formula).
In this equation, you have 4Na (sodium) on the left side reacting with O2 (oxygen) to form 2Na2O (sodium oxide) on the right side. The coefficients represent the number of moles of each substance involved in the reaction.
To find the molecular ratio, you can simply divide all the coefficients by the smallest coefficient in the equation. In this case, the smallest coefficient is 2.
Dividing each coefficient by 2 gives you:
4Na / 2 = 2Na
O2 / 2 = .5O2
2Na2O / 2 = Na2O
So, the molecular ratio for this equation would be 2Na:0.5O2:Na2O