S looks tough since I see it in multiple terms on both sides. Great! I can do this….add a “2” on the left, in front of K 4, so now I have:Ģ K 4 + K 2Cr 2O 7 + H 2SO 4 → Fe 2(SO 4) 3 + Cr 2(SO 4) 3 + CO 2 + H 2O + K 2SO 4 + KNO 3.įe is balanced, for now. First question, how should I balance K? I know I’ll need to “double” the K counts on the right, but which term should I start with – K 2SO 4 or KNO 3? Not sure. Ok…what about on the right? Looks like a total 3 K on the right. I started with K since it’s the first atom I encounter from the left. How long do you think it will take to balance it? Which has 8 types of atoms in the equation: K, Fe, S, C, N, Cr, O and H. So, imagine if you have a real complex equation like this: K 4 + K 2Cr 2O 7 + H 2SO 4 → Fe 2(SO 4) 3 + Cr 2(SO 4) 3 + CO 2 + H 2O + K 2SO 4 + KNO 3 I mean, who wants to spend 30 minutes trying to balance ONE equation? Seriously, that 30 minutes is probably better-spent doing other things like watching YouTube, checking out latest posts in FB, Instagram, Twitter, uploading pictures to Snapchat, level up in that favorite game of yours or doing other things that will increase your happiness. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think it gets a little daunting when it comes to having to keep track of multiple numbers of atoms (like 5 or more) and it will prolong the process unnecessarily. Most of the students I have worked with only knew Method 1 from their high school science/chemistry class. My quick google search seems to point towards Method 1 (by inspection or trial-error-method) and Method 2 (writing down atom counts) being the most popular methods when it comes to balancing equations. Last week I posted on the three methods to balance chemical equations.
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