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Topic: How to Balance a Combustion Equation?  (Read 6049 times)

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Offline abeautifulleto

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How to Balance a Combustion Equation?
« on: December 12, 2006, 08:39:29 PM »
i need help at balancing this!!

C5H12      +            O2                  CO      +            H2O
« Last Edit: December 13, 2006, 02:14:07 PM by geodome »

Offline enahs

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2006, 08:41:39 PM »
Get the reaction correct first, then it is easier to balance.

C5H12 + O2  ->  CO2 + H2O

Also, please read the forum rules.

Offline abeautifulleto

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2006, 08:42:23 PM »
its not CO2 its CO

Offline enahs

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2006, 08:45:09 PM »
It is only CO if you have a limited supply of oxygen, which your initial reaction does not indicate.

Hydrocarbon + Oxygen gives you CO2 and water, no way around it. This is called combustion.

Offline abeautifulleto

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2006, 08:45:57 PM »
http://funbasedlearning.com/chemistry/chembalancer3/ques4.htm


lol i didnt write it. i cant figure it out

Offline enahs

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2006, 08:52:55 PM »
They want 2,11,10,12. But it is a poor question. But since this is not homework and you are just playing I figured I would just tell you.
It is quite easy to balance.

Offline abeautifulleto

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2006, 09:01:19 PM »
thank you so much! how did you figure it out??

Offline enahs

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2006, 09:16:43 PM »
thank you so much! how did you figure it out??


Start with carbon, you have 5 carbon on the left so put a 5 in front of the CO.
You have 12 hydrogen on the left, and there is 2 in H2O, so you put a 6 in front of H2O
Now count how many oxygens you have on the right, 5+6=11
This means you need 11 oxygen atoms on the left, but since oxygen is diatomic (O2) you need 5 and 1 half molecule of O2 to get 11 oxygen atoms.

Now, that is perfectly acceptable, but a lot of people want the coefficients to be whole numbers, so you multiply the 5.5 x 2 to get 11, and multiply everything else by 2.

Offline abeautifulleto

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Re: HELPPP
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2006, 09:48:09 PM »
your a freakin genious!

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