Question

How many chlorine atoms are expected in the products of this chemical reaction? 2Sb + 3Cl2 ?

Answer 1

The answer would be 6.

It's asking for how many Chlorine (Cl) atoms are expected in the products of the chemical reaction.
There's 2 Chlorine atoms, but we multiply it by 3 to get 6.

Answer 2

We expect 3 chlorine atoms per molecule of product produced.

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the reactants 2 Sb + 3 Cl2. As you can see in periodic table, Cl always acts with an oxidation state of -1, while Sb can act with +3 or +5. If reactants are balanced in the given part of the reaction, it means that the product must be 2SbCl3. In this reaction Sb has an oxidation state of +3.

Then 2 Sb + 3Cl2 ⇒ 2 SbCl3, so there are 3 atoms of chlorine per molecule of product produced.

If Sb was acting with +5, you need 5 atoms of chlorine per product and then

2Sb + 5Cl2 ⇒ 2SbCl5, this way you need more atoms than you have.