I need help balancing a equation for the combustion of cellulose in oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor.
C6H10O5 = 6CO +5H2O
I know this is not correct but I don't know what else to do to get this to balance.
Thanking you in advance.
C6 H10 O5 + O2 ---> CO2 + H2O
we need an even number of O atoms
2 C6 H10 O5 + x O2 ---> 12CO2 + 10 H2O
now O balance
10 + 2x = 24 + 10
x = 12
2 C6 H10 O5 + 12 O2 ---> 12CO2 + 10 H2O
Oh, divide by 2
C6 H10 O5 + 6 O2 ---> 6CO2 + 5 H2O
Linda, I did this for you earlier, also. The only problem I see is that you made a typo in transcribing my answer. You wrote CO instead of CO2 and that's why it wouldn't balance for you.
To balance the equation for the combustion of cellulose, we need to make sure that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation. Here's a step-by-step explanation of how to balance this equation:
1. Start by counting the number of each type of atom on both sides of the equation:
On the left side (reactants):
C: 6 atoms
H: 10 atoms
O: 5 atoms
On the right side (products):
C: 6 atoms
O: 6 atoms (in CO and CO2)
H: 10 atoms
O: 10 atoms (in H2O)
2. Since there are already the correct number of carbon atoms (6 on each side), we can move on to balancing the hydrogen atoms. Currently, there are 10 hydrogen atoms on both sides.
3. To balance the hydrogen atoms, we need to add a coefficient in front of the water molecule (H2O) on the right side. By adding a coefficient of 5 in front of H2O, we will have 5 water molecules, contributing 10 hydrogen atoms. The balanced equation now looks like this:
C6H10O5 + O2 → 6CO + 5H2O
4. Now let's balance the oxygen atoms. Currently, there are 5 oxygen atoms on the left side and 16 oxygen atoms on the right side. To balance the oxygen atoms, we need to add a coefficient in front of the oxygen molecule (O2) on the left side. By adding a coefficient of 8 in front of O2, we will have 8 oxygen atoms on both sides. The final balanced equation looks like this:
C6H10O5 + 8O2 → 6CO + 5H2O
5. Double-check the balanced equation to make sure that the number of each type of atom is equal on both sides.
And there you have it! The balanced equation for the combustion of cellulose in oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor is:
C6H10O5 + 8O2 → 6CO + 5H2O