Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas. It is burned for fuel in a combustion reaction. The unbalanced combustion reaction for methane is shown below. CH4 + O2 CO2 + H2O + heat When the reaction is balanced, how many carbon dioxide molecules are produced for every methane molecule burned.

Question

Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas. It is burned for fuel in a combustion reaction. The unbalanced combustion reaction for methane is shown below. CH4 + O2 CO2 + H2O + heat When the reaction is balanced, how many carbon dioxide molecules are produced for every methane molecule burned.

Answer 1

CH4 + 2O2 ==> CO2 + 2H2O

Here is the balanced equation. Use it to answer the question.

Answer 2

To balance the combustion reaction of methane (CH4), we need to ensure the number of atoms on both sides of the equation are equal.

The unbalanced equation is:
CH4 + O2 → CO2 + H2O + heat

To balance the equation, you can follow these steps:

1. Count the number of atoms for each element on both sides of the equation.
- On the left side, there is 1 carbon atom (C) and 4 hydrogen atoms (H).
- On the right side, there is 1 carbon atom (C) and 2 hydrogen atoms (H). Also, there are 3 oxygen atoms (O) in CO2 and 1 oxygen atom (O) in H2O.

2. Start balancing the carbon atoms by placing a coefficient in front of CO2 in the products:
CH4 + O2 → 1CO2 + H2O + heat

3. Next, balance the hydrogen atoms by placing a coefficient in front of H2O:
CH4 + O2 → 1CO2 + 2H2O + heat

4. Finally, balance the oxygen atoms. In this case, the only source of oxygen is O2, so place a coefficient in front of O2:
CH4 + 2O2 → 1CO2 + 2H2O + heat

Now the equation is balanced, and it shows that for every methane molecule (CH4) burned, you produce one carbon dioxide molecule (CO2).

Answer 3

To determine the number of carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules produced for every methane (CH4) molecule burned, we need to balance the combustion equation.

Here's the unbalanced equation: CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + heat

To balance the equation, we need to ensure that the number of atoms on both sides of the equation is equal. Let's start by balancing the carbon (C) atoms first:

On the left side, we have 1 carbon atom in CH4.
On the right side, we have 1 carbon atom in CO2.

To balance the carbon, we need an equal number of CH4 and CO2 molecules. Therefore, the coefficient for CO2 should be 1.

Now, let's balance the hydrogen (H) atoms:

On the left side, we have 4 hydrogen atoms in CH4.
On the right side, we have 2 hydrogen atoms in H2O.

To balance the hydrogen, we need 2 water molecules (H2O). Therefore, the coefficient for H2O should be 2.

The balanced equation now becomes:
CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O + heat

So, for every methane molecule burned, 1 carbon dioxide molecule is produced.