Final answer:
To determine reactants and products, identify starting substances as reactants on the left of the arrow and resulting substances as products on the right in a chemical equation.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine reactants and products, identify starting substances as reactants on the left of the arrow and resulting substances as products on the right in a chemical equation. To figure out the reactants and products in a chemical reaction.
For example, in the reaction between hydrogen gas (H₂) and oxygen gas (O₂) to form water (H₂O), H₂ and O₂ are reactants and H₂O is the product:
H₂ + O₂ → H₂O
To include phase labels, the reaction would be written as: H₂(g) + O₂(g) → H₂O(l)