Question

When you balance the equation C₅H₁₂O₂ ---> CO₂ + H₂O, what is the coefficient of water?

A. 5

B. 8

C. 6

D. 1

Answer 1

To balance the chemical equation C5H12O2 → CO2 + H2O, one must ensure that there are an equal number of atoms for each element on both sides. With 5 carbon atoms and 12 hydrogen atoms in C5H12O2, the equation requires 5 CO2 and 6 H2O molecules, making the coefficient of water 6.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the coefficient of water when balancing the chemical equation C5H12O2 → CO2 + H2O, we must ensure that the number of atoms for each element is the same on both sides of the equation. We start by balancing the carbon atoms, since C5H12O2 has 5 carbon atoms, we need 5 molecules of CO2 on the product side. Next, we have 12 hydrogen atoms, which means we need 6 molecules of H2O to balance the hydrogen atoms. There's no need to adjust the coefficient for water anymore since we have matched the number of hydrogen atoms - 12 hydrogens on both sides. Therefore, the coefficient for water (H2O) is 6.