Chemical Equation Balancer

Welcome to Omni's chemical equation balancer! Whether you're writing a simple reaction like hydrogen reacting with oxygen, or a more complex one, this tool will come in handy to check if your chemical equation is balanced.

If you struggle with this, don't worry, in the following text, we'll explain:

• What a chemical equation is;
• What it means when a chemical equation is balanced; and
• How to balance equations step by step.

Let's get started! ⚗️

Have you ever watched a candle burn, baked a cake and seen it rise, or noticed metal rust over time? All of these everyday situations involve a chemical reaction.

Whenever elements or compounds interact, you can represent their reactions using a chemical equation. This method is a handy way to "translate" a chemical reaction into symbols. Instead of describing everything in words, we use chemical formulas and equations to show the substances involved.

At its core, a chemical equation looks like this:

where:

• Reactants — Substances you start with; and
• Products — Substances formed after the reaction.

For instance, when we say "hydrogen reacts with oxygen to form water," we can write it as:

This illustrates the unbalanced chemical equation for the reaction of hydrogen with oxygen to form water.

Before balancing a chemical equation, it’s essential to understand the difference between subscripts and coefficients:

• Subscripts (small numbers) show how many atoms of each element are in a molecule.

  • Example: O₂ has two oxygen atoms.

• Coefficients (big numbers written in front), these tell you how many molecules or moles of a substance are involved.

  • Example: 2H₂ means two hydrogen molecules.

When the equation is balanced, these coefficients are called stoichiometric coefficients. They tell us the exact ratio in which substances react and are produced in a chemical reaction.

When balancing equations, we only adjust the coefficients (stoichiometric coefficients) — never the subscripts. Changing a subscript would change the actual chemical substance 👀

A chemical equation is balanced when the number of atoms of each element is equal on both sides of the reaction.

This requirement is based on the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that:

For any system that is closed to all incoming and outgoing transfers of matter, the mass of the system must remain constant over time. Therefore, matter cannot be created nor destroyed.

Applied to chemical reactions, this means that, for instance, if you start with 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms, you must also end with 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms in the products, keeping the total mass of the reaction constant.

Earlier, we looked at the unbalanced chemical equation for forming water:

Note that this is not balanced because the number of oxygen atoms is different on each side.

To fix it, we adjust the coefficients:

Now our equation is balanced ✅

The number of atoms of each element on the left (reactants) side is the same as on the right side (products):

• Left side: $\mathrm H : 4$ and $\mathrm O : 2$; and
• Right side: $\mathrm H : 4$ and $\mathrm O : 2$.

You might be wondering how we arrived at those coefficients.

Don't worry — in the next section, we'll walk through the balancing process step by step.

Let's take a look at how to balance a chemical equation. Lucky for us, balancing always follows a logical pattern:

1. Write the unbalanced chemical equation.
2. Count the total atoms: write down how many atoms of each element appear on both sides.
3. Use coefficients to balance elements: start with elements that appear in only one reactant and one product.
4. Leave hydrogen and oxygen until last: these often appear in multiple compounds, so they're easier to finish at the end.
5. Check your atom count: recount atoms to make sure both sides match.
6. Simplify if needed: if all coefficients can be divided by a number, then simplify them.

🔥 Example: balancing a chemical equation

Let's balance the equation of combustion of methane (CH₄):

1. Write down the unbalanced equation:

On the left side, we have the reactants, and on the right side, the products in the chemical equation.

2. Count the number of atoms of each element on each side:

• Left side: $\mathrm C : 1$, $\mathrm H : 4$ and $\mathrm O : 2$; and
• Right side: $\mathrm C : 1$, $\mathrm H : 2$ and $\mathrm O : 3$.

3. Balance hydrogen and oxygen:
Note that since the number of carbon atoms is already balanced, with 1 atom on each side, we can proceed to balance the hydrogen and oxygen elements.

For balancing hydrogen, we have 4 hydrogen atoms on the left and only 2 on the right side; therefore, we need to add a coefficient of 2 in front of water:

Now to balance oxygen, since we are left with 4 oxygen atoms on the right side, we place a coefficient of 2 in front of O₂, on the left:

4. Final check:

• Left side: $\mathrm C : 1$, $\mathrm H : 4$ and $\mathrm O : 4$; and
• Right side: $\mathrm C : 1$, $\mathrm H : 4$ and $\mathrm O : 4$.

Our methane combustion equation is fully balanced 🎉

This method, known as balancing by inspection, works well for simple reactions. For more complex ones, chemists use the algebraic method, which sets up a system of equations to solve for the coefficients.

Balancing equations by hand is a valuable skill, but sometimes the equation is long, you need an answer quickly, or you want to check your homework. That's where our chemical equation balancer comes in handy! ⚗️

To use it:

1. Enter the reactants on the Left-hand side field.
2. Enter the products on the Right-hand side field.
3. Let the tool calculate the correct coefficients for you! 🎉