Question

When a chemical equation in balanced, it will have a set of whole number coefficients that cannot be reduced to smaller whole numbers. What is the coefficient for 02 (2 is a subscript) when the following combustion reaction of a hydrocarbon is balanced? Basically, just balance the following equation...

_C7H14+_O2 to _CO2+H20 (where 7, 14, 2, 2, and 2 are subscripts)

Answer 1

Answer : The balanced chemical reaction will be,

`2C_7H_(14)+21O_2\rightarrow 14CO_2+14H_2O`

Explanation :

Balanced chemical reaction : It is defined as the reaction in which the number of atoms of individual elements present on reactant side must be equal to the product side.

Combustion reaction : It is a chemical reaction in which a hydrocarbon reaction with the oxygen to give product as carbon dioxide and water.

The unbalanced chemical reaction is,

`C_7H_(14)+O_2\rightarrow CO_2+H_2O`

This reaction is an unbalanced chemical reaction because in this reaction number of carbon , hydrogen and oxygen atoms are not balanced.

In order to balance the chemical equation, the coefficient '2' put before the
`C_7H_(14)`, the coefficient '21' put before the
`O_2`, the coefficient '14' put before the
`CO_2` and the coefficient '14' put before the
`H_2O` then we get the balanced chemical equation.

The balanced chemical reaction will be,

`2C_7H_(14)+21O_2\rightarrow 14CO_2+14H_2O`