Im having trouble with reading a chemical equation. ( Numbers on the right side of the element are subscripts )
A) 2SO2 + O2 +2H2O -> 2H2SO4
1. How many total molecules are represented? ( I m having trouble recognizing when it s a molecule or just an element and which is which)
2. How many types of molecules are represented? Is there a difference or what? How do I recognize an exact type? For example if there are two CO2, would that be considered 1 type?
Thanks! And Please Explain thoroughly!
An element is an element is an element. An element has ONLY one kind of atom and there are a few more than 110 elements known to man at this time. Here is a periodic table. Each symbol on the periodic table represents an element. That means that all of the atoms in that element are the same mass and same size and have the same physical and chemical properties; i.e., they are EXACTLY the same in every aspect. However, the atoms in any one element are different than those in some other element.
http://www.webelements.com/
Atoms make up elements, atoms combine to form molecules just as elements combine to form compounds. So when you see a single symbol (such as H, S, O, F, Cl, Na, K, Ca, etc) with nothing else attached you know that is an element. You will see single elements combine such as H2, Cl2, F2, O2, etc and these are elements, but more specifically they are molecules of that element. If you see something like H2S, H2SO4, H2O, NaCl, CaCl2, etc, you know those are COMBINATIONS of elements and those are compounds. Compounds consist of molecules Something like SO2 tells you this is a compound composed of one S atom and two O atoms to make the compound SO2. We can have a single atoms of H or we can have a molecule of H (which is H2).
I will switch to the other post for the answers to the questions.
Sure! Understanding chemical equations can be a bit tricky at first, but I'll explain it step by step.
In the given chemical equation, we have:
2SO2 + O2 + 2H2O → 2H2SO4
1. How many total molecules are represented?
To determine the total number of molecules represented in this equation, we need to count the coefficients in front of each molecule or element.
For example, we have:
- 2SO2: Here, the coefficient '2' indicates that there are 2 molecules of SO2.
- O2: Since there is no coefficient in front, we assume there is a '1', so there is 1 molecule of O2.
- 2H2O: The coefficient '2' tells us that there are 2 molecules of H2O.
- 2H2SO4: Similarly, the coefficient '2' indicates 2 molecules of H2SO4.
Now, if we add up the molecules, we have:
2SO2 + 1O2 + 2H2O + 2H2SO4
Therefore, there are a total of 7 molecules represented in this equation.
2. How many types of molecules are represented? Is there a difference?
In this equation, we have four types of molecules:
- SO2: This represents one type, as there is only one molecule of SO2.
- O2: Again, we have only one molecule, so it represents one type.
- H2O: There are two molecules of H2O, but since they are identical, they still represent only one type.
- H2SO4: We have two molecules of H2SO4, but because they are the same, it represents only one type.
Therefore, there are a total of 4 types of molecules represented in this equation.
It's important to note that while the number of molecules determines the total count, the types of molecules are determined by the unique chemical formula.
I hope this explanation helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.