The Law of Conservation of Mass:
Every single atom which goes into a chemical reaction MUST come out the other side, even if atoms are grouped differently than when they go in. As an example, consider the problem below. Three red, 2 yellow and 5 blue"atoms" go into the chemical reaction. No matter HOW the atoms are arranged or grouped when they come out the other side, every single "atom" that went in MUST come out the other side. In this case, 3 red, 2 yellow and 5 blue"atoms" MUST come out the other side. Count the number of red, yellow and blue "atoms" on each side of this equation. Do you see that the number of "atoms" of each color on both sides of the chemical reaction is the same? That is the first condition you must meet to have a balanced equation.
The word "conservation" means that nothing gets lost, and nothing gets created out of thin air. The word "mass" refers to the amount of matter. There is no such thing as "losing atoms" in a chemical reaction. Nor can atoms suddenly appear when they weren't there in the first place.
Coefficients and Subscripts:
The next two bits of information you must learn is how to interpret the two kinds of numbers found in chemical equations. The large numbers in red below are called "coefficients," because they "appear with" the formulas and act as multipliers. ("Co" means "with" and "efficient" comes from a Latin word meaning "to accomplish." So you can think of the coefficient and its formula as "accomplishing together" the balancing of a chemical equation. -- I know, a bit obscure.-- Nevertheless...) The small numbers in blue below are called "subscripts," because they are written below the line. ("Script" for "writing" and "sub" for "below.")
Introducing Color Code Formulas
To make learning the meaning of these numbers as easy as possible, we will postpone using real chemical symbols and real chemical formulas until later. For now we will just use colored circles as our "atoms" and the first letters of their color names as our "chemical symbols." For example:
Using this Color Code Key, we will clarify the meaning of the two numbers used in chemical equations.
Subscripts Tell How Many Atoms of Each Kind
First of all, the subscript tells us how many atoms of each kind exist in any formula. Look at the examples below. The subscript is ALWAYS written AFTER the symbol of the atom to which it refers.
When an atom appears only ONCE in a formula, we do not write the subscript, because it is not needed. If the atom were not there, nothing would be written at all. So the appearance of a symbol in a formula without a subscript tells us that the atom appears there only ONCE.
Combining Two Different "Color" Atoms
What happens when we combine two or more different atoms together? How do we write the formulas then? Study the examples below to see if you can figure it out.
We will write the formula for a molecule made of one atom of blue and one atom of white.
In this particular case, since we are only working with colors and not actual element symbols, it does not matter whether we write "B" first or "W" first. Notice also that whichever formula we choose, the formula stays the same, regardless of the molecule's orientation in space.
Now we will write the formula for 1 atom of blue and 2 atoms of white.
In most cases when 1 atom of one kind and 2 of another are put together, the single atom will be the central atom of the molecule, as shown in the first four examples in the box above. The last two examples, in which blue is NOT the central atom, were added to show that the formula describing how many atoms there are of each kind is the same,regardless of how the atoms are connected or how they are oriented in space.
Now we will combine 1 atom of blue and 3 atoms of white.
In this case, the atoms will almost always connect with each other as shown in the first example, although the second example is still possible. Again, the important lesson to gain from these examples is that the subscript written after a symbol tells how many atoms of that kind there are in the formula. It does not give any information about HOW the atoms are connected to each other.
TAKEN FROM : http://balancingequations.info/
TAKEN FROM : http://balancingequations.info/
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