Chemical equations are equations showing reactions between reactants to form products.
Chemical equations show the reactants or starting substances and products or substances formed during the reaction.
<h3>Law of conservation of mass </h3>
The law of conservation requires that when writing chemical equations, the mass of the reactants should be equal; to the mass of the products.
This is done by making sure the number of atoms of each element involved in the chemical equation is equal on both sides of the equation.
To ensure the law of conservation in chemical equations is observed we balance chemical equations.
<h3>Balancing chemical equation:</h3>
Balancing chemical equations is a try and error method that ensures the number of atoms in the side of the reactants is equal to the number of atoms in the side of products.
Balancing chemical equations may also require inclusion of state symbols which shows the state of each compound or element involved in the chemical reactions.
For example; the equation; U(s) + 3F₂(g) → UF₆(g) is balanced as the number of Uranium and Fluoride atoms are equal on both sides of the equation.
Keywords: Chemical equations, balancing of chemical equations
The equation presented above is that of uranium reacting with fluorine forming uranium fluoride.
The chemical reaction can be balanced by carefully studying the equation and balancing the number of atoms of each of the element in both sides of the chemical reaction. That is,
Because Boron likes to lose 3 electrons when it undergoes ionization, we draw a boron ion like a helium atom, with just 2 electrons in the first shell, and 0 in the second
