Chemical reactions take place all around us.

Reactions can
happen on their own, like when vinegar and baking soda mix
and release carbon dioxide. Such chemical reactions are called
spontaneous reactions because they happen without any
prompting. Some reactions need a catalyst; a catalyst is
something that triggers the reaction. For example, when you
strike a match, the striking motion creates enough heat to
trigger the chemical reaction we observe as burning.
All chemical reactions can be expressed as an equation. A
chemical equation is an abbreviated way to show what elements
were involved in the reaction and what happened to those
elements because of the reaction. Remember, when a chemical
reaction occurs, new substances with new properties are formed.
A chemical equation shows both the beginning substances (the
reactants) and the resulting substances (the products).
All chemical equations must be balanced. In a balanced
equation, the number of atoms in the products matches the
number of atoms in the reactants. The law of conservation of
mass states that during a chemical reaction mass is neither
created nor destroyed. Mass may not always be visiblefor
instance, when a gas is formedbut mass never disappears.
Chemical equations must show the same numbers and types of
atoms on both sides. Let's apply this rule to a common chemical
reaction. Hydrogen and oxygen can react to form water.
Hydrogen has the chemical formula H2. Oxygen has the formula
O2. You might expect the equation to be written like this:
H2 + O2 begets H2O
Notice when water forms in this equation, the product includes
two hydrogen atoms and only one oxygen atom. However, the
reactants include two hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms.
Because the reactant side includes more oxygen atoms than the
product side includes, this equation is unbalanced.
How do we balance the equation? We add a "2" in front of the
H2O on the product side, resulting in the following equation:
H2 + O2 begets 2H2O
But there's still a problem. We have enough oxygen atoms to
balance the equation, but now hydrogen is not balanced. To
balance hydrogen, add a "2" in front of H2. The correctly
balanced equation looks like this:
2H2 + O2 begets 2H2O
In other words, if we have two hydrogen molecules and one
oxygen molecule, we'll end up with two water molecules. The
same numbers and types of atoms appear on both sides of the
equation. The number in front of the hydrogen molecule means
the reaction involves two hydrogen molecules. The reaction
involves only one oxygen molecule; we don't need to put a "1" in
front of O2 because the "1" is implied.
Let's consider another example. In the equation below,
aluminum reacts with oxygen to form aluminum oxide.
This equation is unbalanced:
A1 + O2 begets A12O3
What do you need to do to balance the equation? Try to
balance the equation on your own before you continue
reading.
Ready for the answer? We know we need two aluminum
atoms on the left side, because the aluminum oxide
molecule has two aluminum atoms. So let's start with
this equation:
2A1 + O2 begets AL O3
The equation is still unbalanced. Doubling the right side of the
equation gets us closer to the correct answer:
2A1 + O2 begets 2A1O3
But the oxygen molecules on the left side are still unbalanced,
and we now have too few aluminum atoms at the beginning of
the reaction. Here's how to solve the problem:
4A1 + 3O2 begets 2A1 2O3
Double-check that the reaction is correct. You can do this by
adding the total number of atoms on each side of the equation.
The left side has four aluminum atoms, and so does the right.
The left side has six oxygen atoms, and so does the right. The
equation is now balanced.