Final answer:
To calculate the number of atoms in the reactants and products, analyze the molecular formulas. The given reaction 2C₂H₆ + 7O₂ → 4CO₂ + 6H₂O contains 4 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 14 oxygen atoms both in the reactants and the products, showing conservation of mass.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the number of each type of atom in the reactants and in the products for the given reaction 2C₂H₆ + 7O₂ → 4CO₂ + 6H₂O, we first look at the molecular formulas. Each molecule of C₂H₆ has 2 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms. Since there are 2 molecules of C₂H₆, we have a total of 4 carbon atoms and 12 hydrogen atoms in the reactants.
For the oxygen, there are 7 molecules of O₂, and since each molecule has 2 oxygen atoms, we have 14 oxygen atoms in total on the reactant side.
On the product side, each molecule of CO₂ has 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms. With 4 molecules of CO₂, this gives us 4 carbon atoms and 8 oxygen atoms. For H₂O, each molecule has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom; 6 molecules result in 12 hydrogen atoms and 6 oxygen atoms.
Summing the oxygen from CO₂ and H₂O gives us a total of 14 oxygen atoms on the product side as well, demonstrating that the reaction is balanced.
The overall atom tally for the reactants is: 4 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and 14 oxygen atoms. For the products, we have: 4 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and 14 oxygen atoms. This illustrates the law of conservation of mass, where the number of atoms of each element in the reactants equals the number in the products.