A little hexane is poured into a crucible and burnt what is a balanced chemical equation for this reaction
To determine the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of hexane (C6H14), we need to follow a few steps:
Step 1: Write the unbalanced equation:
Hexane (C6H14) + Oxygen (O2) -> Carbon Dioxide (CO2) + Water (H2O)
Step 2: Count the number of atoms on each side of the equation to see if they are balanced:
On the reactant side, we have 6 carbon atoms, 14 hydrogen atoms, and 2 oxygen atoms (from O2). On the product side, we have 1 carbon atom (from CO2) and 2 hydrogen atoms (from H2O). The oxygen atoms are unbalanced as well.
Step 3: Balance the carbons:
Since we have 6 carbon atoms on the reactant side, we need to place a coefficient of 6 in front of CO2 on the product side:
C6H14 + O2 -> 6CO2 + H2O
Step 4: Balance the hydrogens:
On the reactant side, we have 14 hydrogen atoms, and on the product side, we have 2 hydrogen atoms. We need to place a coefficient of 7 in front of H2O to balance the hydrogens:
C6H14 + O2 -> 6CO2 + 7H2O
Step 5: Balance the oxygens:
Now, let's look at balancing the oxygen atoms. On the reactant side, we have 2 oxygen atoms from O2, and on the product side, we have 6 carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules, which contain a total of 12 oxygen atoms. To balance the oxygens, we need to add a coefficient of 19/2 (9.5) in front of O2:
C6H14 + (19/2)O2 -> 6CO2 + 7H2O
However, it is not ideal to have a fractional coefficient, so we can multiply the entire equation by 2 to eliminate the fraction:
2C6H14 + 19O2 -> 12CO2 + 14H2O
This is the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of hexane.