In chemistry it is imperative that you understand how chemical reactions occur and how to describe them. So take the time to learn how to create and write a chemical equation.
A reaction is the rearrangement of atoms or ions to form new substances (products). In other words, a reaction always involves the change of one or more substances (reactants) into one or more new substances.
Chemists quantitatively describe reactions with equations based on empirical evidence recorded in the laboratory. These equations allow chemists to make various quantitative predictions about chemical reactions, so this skill must be mastered.
What is a chemical equation?
It’s a symbolic representation of a reaction and reveals three things.
- the reagents
- the products and
- the amounts of each substance involved
Get ready for chemical equations
Writing an equation is quite simple; but you should be familiar with a few things before writing one. You should know the following:
- how to use the periodic table
- how to write chemical formulas
- how to name compounds and
- some simple symbols
Once you’ve mastered these components, you’ll be ready to write some equations.
the symbols
- gas (g)
- solid(s)
- liquid (l)
- aqueous
- ===> (yields)
7 steps to writing chemical equations
- identify reagents
- identify products
- Write formulas for the reactants.
- Write formulas for the products.
- Write the reactants on the left.
- Write the products on the right.
- Place an arrow between them.
Example: Write the equation for the reaction of sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid to produce sodium chloride and water.
The reactants would be NaOH and HCl. The products would be NaCl and HOH. Now write the equation with reactants on the left and products on the right.
NaOH + HCl ===> NaCl + HOH
