0:03 hi everyone my name is Dr Michelle
0:06 banogan and I'm going to be doing the
0:09 videos for this section we are talking
0:11 about chemical reactions and it's quite
0:13 exciting because so far in this semester
0:16 we've learned about atoms and molecules
0:18 and now we're ready to put them all
0:21 together and have some reactions so in
0:23 this particular video we are learning
0:25 about how to write and balance chemical
0:28 equations our learning goals are to
0:30 derive chemical equations from narrative
0:33 descriptions of chemical reactions and
0:36 then also to learn to write and balance
0:38 chemical equations in the molecular format
0:45 so when we write chemical equations
0:47 we're going to find that they need to be
0:48 balanced and we'll talk about what that
0:51 means later but these reactions will
0:54 represent the identities and the
0:56 relative quantities of the substances
0:59 involved right the substances undergoing
1:02 the chemical or physical change so we
1:05 have a chemical reaction written here we
1:07 can see that the symbols for our
1:10 molecules and our atoms are written so
1:12 we've got
1:17 methane CH4 reacting with oxygen O2
1:21 and these two are our reactants they
1:23 occur on the left hand side of the equation
1:24 equation
1:26 on the right hand side we have our
1:29 products those substances that are
1:31 formed in our reaction so these include
1:36 carbon dioxide CO2 and also water H2O as
1:37 our products
1:39 we can also see that there are what we
1:42 call coefficients and coefficients are
1:44 the numbers in front of the different
1:47 chemical species so we see on the left
1:51 hand side for our reactant O2 we have a
1:54 2 in front of it which means that we
1:56 need to have two oxygen molecules in
2:00 order to react with one methane and so
2:02 we can see this shown by these space
2:04 filling models for the molecules right
2:08 here the black sphere is carbon and the
2:10 four white spheres are hydrogen so this
2:12 is a methane molecule and it would need
2:15 to react with two oxygen molecules right
2:17 so here the red spheres represent oxygen
2:22 atoms so together we have 202 molecules
2:24 and we see that we also have a
2:27 coefficient on our product side the
2:30 product water will be generated to give
2:33 us two water molecules for every one
2:35 molecule of carbon dioxide that's formed
2:43 so we learned a few new important
2:46 vocabulary words here for our chemical
2:49 reactions we have substances that are on
2:51 the left hand side of our chemical
2:54 equation and we call these our reactants
2:57 these are the substances undergoing a reaction
2:58 reaction
3:00 on the right hand side of our chemical
3:03 equation we discussed that these are our
3:05 products these are the substances that
3:07 are generated by the reaction
3:10 and on both sides the substances are
3:14 separated by plus signs so we see this
3:17 on the reactant and the product side and
3:20 then between them we have an arrow right
3:22 the arrow separates the reactant side
3:24 from the product side
3:27 and then we also discussed that there
3:30 are coefficients we see that there are
3:33 twos right in front of the oxygen and
3:36 Waters there's no coefficient in front
3:39 of methane or CO2 and that's because
3:42 it's implied that there would be a
3:45 coefficient of one so typically we omit
3:47 the one and we do not write it out and
3:56 we're going to talk more about balancing
3:59 chemical equations and that will involve
4:02 trying to figure out the correct
4:05 coefficients in our chemical equations
4:08 but we need to know how to interpret
4:12 what these coefficients mean so a few
4:14 things about coefficients we need to
4:16 make sure that we use the smallest
4:18 possible whole number coefficients in
4:20 our chemical equation
4:24 and that simply means that if all of our
4:27 coefficients are say a multiple of two
4:30 then I could divide them all by two and
4:32 that would give me the smallest possible
4:36 coefficients if all of my coefficients
4:38 are factors of 10 right then they're
4:40 going to be very large coefficients so
4:42 I'll need to divide all of them by 10 so
4:44 that I have the lowest the lowest
4:47 possible coefficients also the
4:50 coefficients are there to represent the
4:52 relative numbers of reactants and
4:55 products and so we can interpret them
4:57 really like ratios
4:59 so there's different ways for us to
5:02 interpret this particular chemical
5:04 reaction right we could think about this
5:06 reaction happening on the molecular
5:11 scale so we could have one molecule of
5:15 methane reacting with two molecules
5:18 of oxygen right and this would give us
5:24 one molecule of CO2 and two molecules
5:27 of water as product we could also think
5:29 of a larger scale right we could think
5:31 about moles so this would represent one
5:35 mole of methane reacting with two moles
5:38 of oxygen to generate one mole
5:42 of carbon dioxide and two moles
5:45 of water in each case whether we're
5:47 talking about molecules or moles right
5:48 it's really about having the correct
5:53 ratio of reactants and products
5:56 we could also think about this being in
5:59 dozens of molecules right so it's really
6:00 just about making sure we have the right ratio
6:08 to drive this home here we have just a
6:11 snapshot of our reactant and product
6:15 side mixtures at a given point in our
6:16 chemical reaction
6:20 and if these ratios need to be true for
6:23 our reaction then what we should see in
6:25 our reaction mixture should also
6:28 represent that ratio so here we said
6:31 that the black and white molecules are
6:33 methane so you can see that we have
6:36 three methane
6:39 molecules in our reactant mixture and
6:43 the red molecules are the oxygen so one
6:50 so even though we don't have the exact
6:53 numbers that are represented in our
6:54 chemical reaction
6:58 the three methane molecules to six
7:02 oxygen molecules is still a one to two
7:05 ratio which is the ratio that we see in
7:07 our chemical reaction and if we look at
7:09 our product mixture we see the same
7:12 thing that the ratio of molecules is the
7:14 same as what we see in our balanced
7:15 chemical equation
7:19 so in our reactant mixture the carbon
7:22 dioxide is represented by the black
7:23 sphere in the Middle with the two
7:26 oxygens on the side the two red spheres
7:30 so we have one two three carbon dioxide molecules
7:32 molecules
7:36 and the water molecules are the red
7:38 sphere with the two white right so this
7:41 is oxygen and then two hydrogens so one
7:46 two three four five six water molecules
7:48 and again you can see that three to six
7:52 is the same as a one to two ratio which
7:54 is the ratio that we see in our balanced
8:00 so how now do we balance chemical equations
8:02 equations um
8:02 um
8:04 when we have a balanced chemical
8:08 equation we have equal numbers of atoms
8:11 for each element on both the reactant
8:14 and the product sides
8:16 to achieve this we need to make sure
8:19 that the numbers of atoms for a given
8:21 element is multiplied by the coefficient
8:24 of any formula containing that element
8:28 by the element subscript in the formula
8:31 so here we can see if we look at this
8:33 chemical reaction the oxygen has a
8:36 coefficient of 2 and it has a subscript
8:40 of 2 in the molecular formula so in
8:42 order to calculate the number of oxygens
8:45 that are present as reactant here we
8:48 would need to multiply two by two
8:50 and then finally if an element appears
8:52 in more than one formula on a given side
8:54 of the equation the number of atoms
8:57 represented in each must be computed and
8:58 then added together
9:02 so here we have our formula that we've
9:03 been working with right the reaction of
9:06 methane with oxygen so let's make sure
9:07 that this is a balanced chemical
9:10 equation first we're going to look at Carbon
9:11 Carbon
9:13 we'll consider the number of carbon
9:15 atoms on the reactant side and then the
9:18 product side and if they are equal then
9:19 we will know that the carbons are
9:22 balanced so on the reactant side we have
9:25 the carbon in methane there's only one
9:28 carbon atom in each methane and we only
9:30 have one methane molecule so not
9:33 multiplying the coefficient by the
9:36 number of methane atoms is one times one
9:39 meaning we only have one carbon atom as
9:41 a reactant but if we look on the product
9:43 side we have carbon present in the
9:47 carbon dioxide the coefficient is one
9:49 and there's only one carbon in each
9:52 carbon dioxide so this is also one times
9:54 one and we can see that yes the carbons
9:56 are balanced when we consider the
9:59 hydrogens on the reactant side we have
10:03 four hydrogens in each one carbon each
10:07 one methane molecule the coefficient is
10:10 one the subscript for hydrogen is four
10:13 so we're Computing one times four we
10:18 have four hydrogens as reactants and on
10:20 the right hand side our product side we
10:23 have hydrogen present in water so the
10:26 coefficient is two we multiply this by
10:28 the subscript for hydrogen in the
10:31 molecule which is also two
10:35 so 2 times 2 gives me 4 hydrogen atoms
10:38 since both give us four we can see that
10:40 this is balanced as well
10:43 and then finally for the oxygen we see
10:46 that oxygen is present as O2 at the
10:49 reactant side the coefficient is two we
10:51 multiply that by its subscript which is
10:54 also 2 to give us four oxygen atoms
10:57 present on the reactant side on the
10:59 product side we see that oxygen is
11:03 present both in the CO2 and also in the
11:05 water so we're going to figure out how
11:07 much oxygen is in each and then we will
11:09 add them together
11:12 so in the carbon dioxide the coefficient
11:14 is 1
11:17 the subscript for the oxygen in this
11:20 molecular formula is 2 which gives us
11:23 two atoms of oxygen on the product side
11:26 in the carbon dioxide and then for the
11:29 water molecule the coefficient is 2 and
11:31 the subscript for oxygen in this
11:34 molecular formula is one
11:37 so this is also two when I add these two
11:39 together this is going to give me 4.
11:42 since I had four oxygens on the reactant
11:44 side and four in the product side for
11:50 so let's get a little bit more practice
11:52 balancing chemical equations
11:55 we have an unbalanced chemical equation
12:00 involving water being broken up into its
12:04 elements hydrogen H2 and oxygen O2 we're
12:06 told that this is unbalanced so we're
12:08 going to first check and see how many of
12:10 each species we have on the reactants
12:12 and product side and then we'll inspect
12:14 the reaction to figure out how we can
12:17 change it to make it balanced
12:20 so starting with the hydrogens on the
12:23 reactant side we see that we've got one
12:26 molecule of water and there are two
12:29 hydrogens in each molecule giving me a
12:32 total of two on the reactant side the
12:34 hydrogen is present as H2 the
12:37 coefficient is one the subscript is two
12:39 which means that I have two hydrogen
12:42 atoms on the product side so the
12:44 hydrogens are balanced when we look at
12:46 the oxygens we see that oxygen is
12:50 present on the reactant side as water
12:54 our coefficient is one for the oxygen
12:56 the subscript would be one
12:59 so I only have one oxygen atom on the
13:02 product side I have oxygen presidents O2
13:05 my coefficient is 1 and I'm multiplying
13:08 that by my subscript which is 2 to give
13:10 me two oxygen atoms on the right hand side
13:11 side
13:14 so we can see that no the oxygens are
13:16 not balanced
13:19 in order to balance this we can look at
13:22 our reaction and think how can we change
13:25 it so that the oxygens would become
13:28 balanced we need more oxygen on the
13:30 reactant side right because we're
13:34 comparing one to two so we need
13:46 so it says to achieve balance the
13:47 coefficients of the equation must be
13:50 changed as needed we know that the
13:52 subscripts cannot be changed right that
13:54 would change the actual identity of the
13:57 species involved right it would change
14:00 the molecules so what we can change is
14:04 are the coefficients of these species
14:07 so we can try to increase the amount of
14:11 oxygen on the reactant Side by adding a
14:13 2 in front of the water so we're going
14:19 two water molecules
14:22 coming apart to give us hydrogen gas and
14:26 oxygen gas now let's inspect this to see
14:28 if it has solved our problems and
14:31 balanced the oxygen so I'm going to use
14:34 a little bit of a shortcut to write how
14:37 many reactant and product atoms we have
14:39 for each so I'm going to first inspect
14:42 for hydrogen and I'm going to draw two
14:44 dashes on the left hand side I'll write
14:46 how many hydrogens I have as reactant
14:48 and then on the right I'll write how
14:49 many I have as product
14:52 so again I'm doing the 2 write the
14:54 coefficients for the water molecule
14:56 multiplied by the subscript for the
14:59 hydrogen so I can see that I have four
15:02 hydrogens on the reactant side
15:04 for the product side I can see I have
15:07 one as my coefficient for the hydrogen
15:11 gas my subscript is 2. so 1 times 2
15:15 gives me only two hydrogen atoms
15:18 doing the same for oxygen we see our
15:21 coefficient of 2 multiplied by 1 gives
15:25 me only two oxygen atoms and on the
15:27 right hand side I have a coefficient of
15:30 1 for the oxygen O2 gas and a subscript
15:32 of two multiplying those together gives
15:35 me two oxygen atoms so we've solved our
15:37 problem for the oxygen and balanced it
15:41 but our hydrogens are not balanced
15:44 so looking at our reaction we can see
15:48 that we need more hydrogen gas on the
15:51 product side the hydrogen on the product
15:54 side is in the form H2 so if we add a
15:57 coefficient in front of that then that
15:59 will allow us to hopefully balance our
16:01 equation so I'm going to write in a 2 here
16:09 and then we can see how this changed the
16:12 number of hydrogen atoms right now we'll
16:16 have 2 times our subscript 2 to give us
16:18 four hydrogens nothing else should have
16:21 changed so now both my hydrogens and my
16:29 let's try another example
16:32 so here we have nitrogen and oxygen
16:36 reacting to give me dinitrogen pentoxide
16:40 n2o5 we're going to do the same thing so
16:42 first I'll look at my nitrogens to see
16:45 if they're balanced and my oxygens on
16:48 the left hand side I have two nitrogens
16:51 as reactants on the right hand side for
16:54 products I also have two
16:58 for the oxygens as reactant I have two
17:02 and on the right hand side I have 5. so
17:03 we're balanced with respect to nitrogen
17:07 but not with respect to oxygen but I can
17:10 see that I can balance these if I'm able
17:13 to make the number of oxygens equal on
17:15 both the left and right sides
17:18 what I can do is notice that if I
17:21 multiply the number of oxygens on the
17:25 left hand side by 5 and I multiply the
17:29 oxygens on the right hand side by 2
17:33 then I should have 10 on both sides
17:34 right I'm using the lowest common
17:38 multiple of the numbers we had initially
17:41 so I can do this by changing my reaction
17:44 so then I would have
17:51 added a 5 in front of the O2 and A2 in
17:54 front of the n2o5
18:05 so now in terms of the nitrogen I have 2
18:08 on the left hand side and I have 2 times
18:12 2 or 4 nitrogens on the left on the
18:14 right hand side
18:16 for the oxygens on the left hand side I
18:20 have 10 right 5 times 2 and on the right
18:23 hand side I have 2 times 5 also 10. so
18:25 now we've succeeded in balancing our
18:28 oxygens but the nitrogens are not balanced
18:30 balanced
18:32 so we can look at our equation and see
18:35 that we need more nitrogen on the left
18:39 hand side nitrogen is present as N2 on
18:42 the left hand side so if I'm able to add
18:46 a 2 in front of it then that should balance
18:47 balance
18:53 all right so going back and looking at
18:56 my number of nitrogen atoms it should be
19:01 2 times 2 or 4 on my left hand side and
19:02 the right hand side should now not have
19:05 been changed so we now are balanced with
19:07 respect to both the nitrogen and the oxygen
19:10 oxygen
19:13 let's do one more example we're going to
19:15 see in this example that is sometimes
19:18 convenient to use fractions while we're
19:21 balancing but then in the end we want
19:23 our coefficients to be the lowest whole
19:26 numbers and so we'll need to multiply by
19:28 something in order to get rid of our
19:30 fractions and I'll show you what I mean
19:33 so let's look at our reaction here we
19:35 have a reaction involving carbon
19:38 hydrogen and oxygen so we're reacting
19:42 c2h6 with oxygen O2 to generate water
19:44 and carbon dioxide
19:47 initially we can go through and see how
19:50 many of each species we have
19:55 we've got carbon hydrogen and oxygen
19:58 in terms of carbon on the left hand side
20:03 I see I have two atoms of carbon on the
20:05 right hand side I have only one in the
20:07 carbon dioxide
20:11 for hydrogen I have six hydrogens on the
20:12 left hand side
20:15 on the right hand side I have two hydrogens
20:16 hydrogens
20:18 and for the oxygen on the left hand side
20:22 I have two and on the right hand side I
20:25 have oxygen present in both products so
20:30 I have one oxygen present in water and I
20:32 also have two
20:35 oxygens in the carbon dioxide to give me
20:37 a total of three
20:40 so none of our atoms are none of our
20:43 elements are balanced so we need to set
20:46 about how to do this
20:48 um for reactions evolving carbon
20:50 hydrogen and oxygen I would recommend
20:55 that you start by balancing the carbons
21:02 the carbons
21:04 so let's look at the carbons we said we
21:06 have two on the left and one on the
21:08 right so it would seem that we could add
21:13 a coefficient of 2 for the CO2 and that
21:21 indeed now I've got two carbons on the
21:24 right hand side but because there is
21:28 oxygen also in the carbon dioxide this
21:32 has changed the number of oxygens I have
21:35 for my product side as well
21:38 so now I have one oxygen in the water
21:42 and a coefficient of 2 multiplied by the
21:45 subscript of 2 for the oxygen gives me
21:47 four so now I have a total of five
21:55 after balancing our carbons I want to
21:58 now look at the hydrogens
22:00 so next
22:09 I see that I've got six hydrogens on the
22:12 left and two on the right
22:15 if I add a 3 in front of my water
22:19 molecule then that should indicate that
22:26 right so we didn't change anything on
22:28 the Loft so we still have six hydrogens
22:30 on the left and on the right we have
22:32 three times two
22:35 to give us a total of six hydrogens for
22:41 our last step
22:43 is to balance
22:48 we
22:51 see that we've got two oxygens on the
22:53 left hand side
22:55 and since I changed
22:58 the number of water molecules and that
23:00 also contains oxygen I need to
23:03 reevaluate how many oxygens I have on
23:04 the product side
23:08 so in the water I have three
23:10 right three times a subscript of one for
23:12 the oxygen
23:15 and in the carbon dioxide I have 2 times
23:18 a subscript of two so that would be four
23:21 so I have a total of seven oxygens on
23:23 the right hand side
23:26 now in order to balance this I need to
23:29 add more oxygens on the left right on
23:31 the reactant side
23:35 I can see that if I multiply the 2 by 7
23:39 halves then I would achieve a number of
23:42 7 on the left and that's the number that
23:44 I have on the right so if I can achieve
23:46 this then the oxygens will also be
23:50 balanced so I can use 7 halves as my
23:53 coefficient for the oxygens
23:56 and when I do this I have seven halves
24:01 times two or seven oxygens on the left
24:03 which equals
24:06 the number of oxygens I said I have on
24:09 the right so now we are balanced with
24:12 respect to all of our elements
24:15 but I have this fractional coefficient
24:18 which is not preferred
24:21 so when a balance is achieved with
24:24 fractions you can then multiply all of
24:26 your coefficients by some whole number
24:30 in order to convert the fraction to an integer
24:33 integer
24:35 um and multiplying through all of your
24:37 coefficients by the same number will
24:39 keep the same ratios right which
24:41 achieved the balanced chemical equation
24:43 but will just help us to have them in
24:45 integer format
24:48 so to get rid of my seven halves I can
24:51 see I just need to multiply by the
24:53 number that I have in my denominator so
24:56 because 2 is in my denominator If I
25:00 multiply all of my coefficients by 2
25:04 then this should get rid of my fraction
25:07 so I'm going to multiply
25:10 by 2
25:19 so I'm going to write my balanced
25:22 chemical equation down here now so if I
25:25 multiply each coefficient by 2 I will
25:27 have 2
25:28 for the C2 H6
25:31 H6
25:34 If I multiply 7 halves by 2 I'm going to
25:36 get 7
25:40 as my coefficient for the O2
25:44 If I multiply 2 by 3
25:47 for my coefficient for the waters I will
25:50 get 6 and then finally 2 multiplied by 2
25:53 for the carbon dioxide will give me four