When the following equation is balanced, the coefficient of O2 is

Question

When the following equation is balanced, the coefficient of O2 is

CH4 + 02 —> CO2 + H20

Answer 1

When the equation CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O is balanced, the coefficient of O2 is 2.

Answer 2

To balance the given equation:

CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O

Let's start by balancing the carbon atoms by placing a coefficient of 1 in front of CO2:

CH4 + O2 -> 1CO2 + H2O

Now, let's balancing the hydrogen atoms by placing a coefficient of 2 in front of H2O:

CH4 + O2 -> 1CO2 + 2H2O

Next, let's balance the oxygen atoms:

On the left side, we have 1 oxygen atom from O2 and 4 oxygen atoms from CO2, giving us a total of 5 oxygen atoms on the right side.

On the right side, we have 2 oxygen atoms from H2O, giving us a total of 2 oxygen atoms on the right side.

To balance the oxygen atoms, we need to have the same number of oxygen atoms on both sides. So, we place a coefficient of 5/2 (or 2.5) in front of O2:

CH4 + 2.5O2 -> 1CO2 + 2H2O

To make the coefficients whole numbers, we can multiply the entire equation by 2:

2CH4 + 5O2 -> 2CO2 + 4H2O

Now, the equation is balanced. The coefficient of O2 is 5.

Answer 3

To balance the equation CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O, you need to ensure that the number of each type of atom is the same on both sides of the equation.

Let's start by balancing the carbon (C) atoms. There is only one carbon atom on the left side (CH4) while there is one carbon atom on the right side (CO2). So we can say the carbon atoms are balanced.

Next, let's balance the hydrogen (H) atoms. There are four hydrogen atoms on the left side (CH4) and two hydrogen atoms on the right side (H2O). To balance the hydrogen atoms, we can place the coefficient 2 in front of H2O so that there are now four hydrogen atoms on both sides of the equation.

The equation now looks like this:
CH4 + O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O

Finally, let's balance the oxygen (O) atoms. There are two oxygen atoms on the left side (O2) and two oxygen atoms on the right side (CO2 + 2H2O). However, to ensure equal numbers of oxygen atoms, we need to multiply O2 by 2:

2O2 + CH4 -> CO2 + 2H2O

Now the equation is balanced, and the coefficient of O2 is 2.