[JohnA]

Hello, how do i go about balancing this equation and writing the formula for the reactants and products:
solid zinc and aqueous hydrogen sulfate react to produce hydrogen gas and aqueous zinc sulfate.
Thanks for the help.
John

[Arkcon]

You start by translating the word for the chemicals that you have into chemical nomenclature:  you use the abbreviations for the various elements from the periodic table, we use the "+" sign, and this forum has arrows above that you can use.

[JohnA]

Is this correct?

[Arkcon]

Yes, that's a good start:

Zn + H₂SO₄  H₂ + ZnSO₄

is a balanced reaction.  But the question also mentions the states of matter, so you might not get full credit on an examination if you don't put the state -- solid, liquid, gas, or aq for aqueous solution in parenthesis next to your reactants and products.

This one was easy.  If the the reaction had called for aqueous HCl, you would have to do some more work to balance.