Question

A chemical reactions is shown. How many different elements and total atoms are involved in the reaction?

Answer 1

Answer:

This question is incomplete

Explanation:

This question is incomplete. However, to determine the number of different element participating in a reaction, count the number of individual atoms participating the reaction. For example,

H₂SO₄ + 2NaOH  ⇒  Na₂SO₄ + 2H₂O

The number of different elements involved in the reaction above are hydrogen (H), sulphur (S), oxygen (O) and sodium (Na). This means there are 4 different elements involved in the reaction.

But to determine the total number of atoms involved in a reaction, one must first ensured the reaction is balanced (because the number of each atom must be considered). Using the same reaction illustrated earlier hydrogen (H) has 2 atoms in H₂SO₄ and 2 atoms in NaOH, sulphur (S) has 1 atom in H₂SO₄, oxygen (O) has 4 atoms in H₂SO₄ and 2 atoms in NaOH and sodium (Na) has 2 atoms in NaOH. Thus, total number of atoms is 13 atoms.

Note that the number of atoms on the reactant side would be same as number of atoms on product side because of law of conservation of matter. Thus, participating atoms in the reaction is 13