Coefficients in a chemical equation express RATIOS between molecules or compounds.
In chemistry, coefficients are numerical numbers in front of element or formula. In a chemical equation, coefficients show the number of elements that should react with the number of other elements to produce a particular amount of chemical products.
<h2>Further Explanation</h2>
In other words, coefficients show the number of the molecules of the substance (reactant and products) in a chemical reaction.
For proper clarification: let look at this equation
2 H2 + O2 — 2 H2O
This goes to shows the coefficient in front of each element, which means that the coefficient of H2 is 2, the coefficients 02 is 1 and the coefficient of H20 is 2.
What the equation is showing us is that 2 molecules of hydrogen with one molecule of oxygen will produce 2 molecules of water (H20).
If coefficients are not present in a chemical equation, what it means is that we will only know that a certain reactants will produce a particular products.
However, without the coefficients, we won’t be able to know the ratio at which the elements will react with one another.
Therefore, Coefficients in a chemical equation express RATIOS between molecules or compounds.
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KEYWORDS:
- coefficients
- products
- reactants
- compounds
- molecules