Conservation of Mass: mass cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change forms and rearrange itself. Mass cannot "disappear", it must go somewhere. In the image above, the airplane at the end does not have more mass than the parts it started with, so the "equation" is balanced.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Be able to write chemical equations
2. Be able to balance chemical equations
Balancing those equations:
1. Since mass can't be created or destroyed, you must have the same number of moles of each atom on both sides of the equation.
2. Add COEFFICIENTS in front of compounds to change the number of atoms. If you change the subscripts, you change the compound and are no longer talking about the reaction that occurred.
3. Reduce at the end. If your subscripts are 3-6-3, this can be reduced to 1-2-1 and describes the minimum number of moles of each compound required for the given reaction to occur.
2. Add COEFFICIENTS in front of compounds to change the number of atoms. If you change the subscripts, you change the compound and are no longer talking about the reaction that occurred.
3. Reduce at the end. If your subscripts are 3-6-3, this can be reduced to 1-2-1 and describes the minimum number of moles of each compound required for the given reaction to occur.