How to balance chemical equations

Be able to balance any chemical equations that is put in front of you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• pen / paper
• chemistry book
• chemistry knowledge
• Time!

1. Break down your equation into a left side and a right side like in the following image...
2. Now you need to make sure that the left side matches the right side.... Add numbers to each side so that they are equal..
3. Now all you need to do is rewrite the equation..
4. It isn't very nice to have 3/2 of a molecule so if we multiply everything by 2 we will get a balanced equation that look good: 4Al + 3O2 ---> 2Al2O3
5. This equations shows that there are 4(1)Al = 4 on the left and 2(2)Al = 4 on the right(multiply the subscript by the number in front of the element). Also there are 3(2)O = 6 on the left and 2(3)O = 6 on the right. So, this equation is balanced!