Writting balanced equations....?

for reactions (need help as i'm thick when it comes to anything maths like)





So I got this question from my tutor Write balanced equations and ionic equations for the following reactions.





a: sulphuric acid + aqueous sodium hydroxide


b: nitric acid + aqueous sodium oxide


c: hydrochloric acid + aqueous calcium carbonate


d: nitric acid + aqueous potassium hydroxide


e: hydrochloric acid + aqueous lithium hydroxide





my Q to you guys is where the heck do i start. I have no idea how to do normal equations especially when only given the reaction. I can't ask my tutor for help as we're all on school holidays at the minute and i've tried to understand the ionic bits but i don't understand spectators or how you get rid of parts of the equation. I want to get them right but dont have a clue whjat i'm doing. Please can someone help.

Writting balanced equations....?
First of all you need to convert the words to proper chemical symbols - for example Sulphuric Acid is H2SO4 (= two hydrogen, one sulphur, four oxygen). Then you need to work out what the products of the reactions are (the other side of the equation). Then you need to make sure that the number of each element is the same on either side of the equation - if necessary you can put numbers in front of compounds, e.g. 2H2O (= four hydrogen, two oxygen). Or you could get someone to simply post the answers on here! :)





Those are mostly wrong (but you are on the right lines), for example the first one is:


H2SO4 + 2NaOH --%26gt; Na2SO4 +2H2O





(Note that you'll never have simply 'H' as a product - if Hydrogen is released as a gas it is always 'H2')
Reply:OK you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. When working out these equations look for the positive and negative ion in each case. You merely swap them round. You're nearly there but the positive ion in your different acids is H+ the other half of it is the negative counter ion. Don't split it up nitrate, chloride and sulphate make up the negative ions and attach to the positive ion in the other compound to make the salt. The hydroxides then react with the protons to form water. The carbonate is used to form water and carbon dioxide. Don't forget if the negative ion is 2- then it reacts with a 2+ charge of positive ions e.g H2SO4. You will need to know the charges of all the ions in the reaction,
Reply:When it com mes to equations the names of various things is represented in alphabets like for water we all know H2O which means hydrogen two times and oxygen one time so its simple like h2so4 etc.
Reply:1) get the chemical formulae of the compounds involved in the reaction - eg sodium hydroxide is NaOH


2) write out the equations in chemical symbols


3) add up how many of each symbol are on each side of the equation - a subscript number means there are that number of the symbol immediately preceeding it. you cannot change this number.


4) put normal-sized numbers in front of a compound's formula to change how many molecules of that compound are consumed/produced. you may need to change both sides of the equation to get them to balance (use the lowest common multiples you can).





here is a worked example: glucose + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water


1%26amp;2) C6H12O6 + O2 = CO2 + H2O


3) left: C=6, H=12, O=(6+2)8


right: C=1, H=2, O=(2+1)3


4) if you put a 6 infront of the CO2 you will have the same number of C on each side. then you also have more O on that side, now a total of 13. we will come back to the O in a minute, but first look at the H: 12 on the left, and 2 on the right. so put a 6 infront of the H2O to make the H balance. Now C and H are balanced, and we have an even number of O on the right (18). as there are 6O on the left in glucose, we can just use 18-6=12 to balance the O. it is O2, so we need just 6O2 to make 12 O on the left. so the full balanced equation is: c6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O.





your equations are much simpler than this example, so you should be fine. have a go! good luck...
Reply:First, you need to know the basic equations. They are


- acid + metal --%26gt; salt + hydrogen


- acid + base ( hydroxide or oxide) --%26gt; salt+ water


- acid + carbonate --%26gt; salt + water + carbon dioxide





Second, you need to know the formula of the reactants and the salts. For eg, sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Generally, you just need to change the partner of the reactants to get the formula of the salt. For eg, SO4 from H2SO4 will go and pair up with Na from NaOH to form a salt Na2SO4. The most important thing is you MUST know the formula of each substances.





Third, you balance the equation. See how many of each atom in the reactants and make sure the same number of same type of atom is in the products.





To write an ionic equation,


First, you need to know what states the compounds are in. (solid, liquid, gas or aqueous). All acids are in aqueous solution. Your question has already informed you what states the bases and carbonates are in.





Second, you split up those which are in AQUEOUS state (NOT solid, liquid and gas) into ions. For eg, H2SO4 can be split up into 2H(+) and SO4(2-).





Third, cancel those IONS (ions only) which are common. Meaning to say, cancel those which appear in both reactants and products.





Finally, the remaining ones will be your final ionic equation. Don't forget to balance it too.
Reply:Hey, been a decade since A Level Chemistry, but a quick look at this suggests you should start at the basics.


So, acid + base = salt + water.





For (e) HCl + LiOH = LiCl + H2O





Cl has a charge of 1- %26amp; Li has 1+ so they go together, and the remainder of H+ %26amp; OH- simply go together.





Always try to use H2O to mop up extra bit of equations, and if the charges are different for the different elements, e.g. one has a charge of -2, and the other only +1 then simply increase the number of whicher reactant has the smaller number so it balances. So you have the same number balancing out. Like for water, where you have H+, but O2-, so you need another H+ to balance.





Hope this helps
Reply:I'm not the greatest at these but I think the first one would be





H2SO4(aq) + NaOH(aq) --%26gt; NaSO4(aq) + H2O(l) + H(g)


I'm probably wrong though. If it's right you then need to cancel out the spectatators (the ones that haven't changed) and re write the equation ionically like H+ + OH- --%26gt; H2O