Final answer:
To balance the chemical equation, we need to determine the number of hydrogen atoms in the reactants. Assuming the reactants have x hydrogen atoms, we can set up an equation using the number of hydrogen atoms in the products. Solving for x will give us the answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
To balance a chemical equation, we need to ensure that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation. In this case, if the products of the chemical reaction have 5 atoms of oxygen and 10 atoms of hydrogen, we need to determine how many hydrogen atoms there are in the reactants.
Let's assume that the reactants have x hydrogen atoms. If we look at the products, there are 2 hydrogen atoms in each water molecule (H2O), so the total number of hydrogen atoms in the products is 2 * number of water molecules (H2O).
Since we know that there are 10 hydrogen atoms in the products, we can set up the equation:
2 * number of water molecules (H2O) = 10
From this equation, we can solve for the number of water molecules (H2O) and therefore the number of hydrogen atoms in the reactants. The balanced equation would be:
2 H2O + ? H2 = 5 O2 + 10 H2O