What is the chemical reaction for:
The oxidation of methanol
***** not methanol, it's methanal *****
see http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/GCSE/chemistry/oxidation-of-methanol.html
The chemical reaction for the oxidation of methanol involves the combustion of methanol (CH3OH) in the presence of oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). The balanced chemical equation for this reaction can be written as:
2 CH3OH + 3 O2 → 2 CO2 + 4 H2O
To understand how this reaction is balanced and to determine the products, we need to follow a few steps:
Step 1: Determine the chemical formulae of all the compounds involved. In this case, we have methanol (CH3OH), oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water (H2O).
Step 2: Write down the unbalanced chemical equation by placing the reactants on the left side of the arrow and the products on the right side.
CH3OH + O2 → CO2 + H2O
Step 3: Balance the number of atoms on each side of the equation. Start by balancing the atoms that appear in only one compound on each side. In this reaction, we have one carbon (C) atom, four hydrogen (H) atoms, and two oxygen (O) atoms on the left side, whereas on the right side, we have one carbon atom, six hydrogen atoms, and three oxygen atoms.
To balance the carbon atoms, we need to place a coefficient of 2 before CO2 on the right side.
To balance the hydrogen atoms, we need to place a coefficient of 2 before H2O on the right side.
To balance the oxygen atoms, we need to place a coefficient of 3/2 before O2 on the left side.
The balanced chemical equation for the oxidation of methanol is:
2 CH3OH + 3/2 O2 → 2 CO2 + 4 H2O