<u><em>Explanation:</em></u> <u>To balance a chemical equation,</u> we need to make sure that the number of moles of each element on the reactants side is equal to the number of moles of that elements on the products side.
<u>For the given equation:</u> H₂O ............> H₂ + O₂ <u>We need to make sure that:</u> number of moles of reacting hydrogen = number of moles of produced hydrogen number of moles of reacting oxygen = number of moles of produced oxygen
<u>1- Let's check the Oxygen:</u> On the reactant side, we have one mole of oxygen On the products side, we have two moles of oxygen To balance this, we can multiply the reactants side by 2. <u>This will give us:</u> 2 H₂O ............> H₂ + O₂
<u>2- Let's check the Hydrogen:</u> From part 1, we reached the following equation: 2 H₂O ............> H₂ + O₂ From this equation, we can note that: On the reactant side, we have 2*2 = 4 moles of hydrogen On the products side, we have 2 moles of hydrogen To balance this, we can multiply the hydrogen in the products side by 2 <u>This will give us:</u> 2 H₂O ............> 2 H₂ + O₂
<u>3- Let's check:</u> The equation we reached in part 2 is: 2 H₂O ............> 2 H₂ + O₂ Checking this equation, we can find that: We have 2*2 = 4 hydrogen moles on reactants side and 2*2 = 4 hydrogen moles on products side We have 2 oxygen moles on reactants side and 2 oxygen moles on products side <u>Therefore,</u> The equation is balanced