Friday, March 11, 2011

ChemThink Questions

C H E M I C A L R E A C T I O NS T U T O R I A L Q U EST I O NS :


1. Starting materials in a chemical reaction are called reactants.


2. The ending materials in a chemical reaction are called product.


3. The arrow indicates a chemical change.


4. All reactions have one thing in common: there is a rearrangement of chemical bonds.


5. Chemical reactions always involve old bonds.


6. In all reactions we still have all of the same atoms at the end that we had at the start.


7. In every reaction there can never be any missing atoms or new atoms.


8. Chemical reactions only rearrange the bonds in the atoms that are already there.


9. Let’s represent a reaction on paper.  For  example, hydrogen gas (H2) reacts with oxygen gas (O2) to form water
(H2O):
H2 +
O2 
H2O


If we use only the atoms shown,  we’d have two atoms of H and two atoms of O as reactants. This would make one molecule of H2O, but we'd have one atom of O leftover. However, this reaction only makes H2O.


Remember: reactions are not limited to 1 molecule each of reactants. We can use as many as we need to balance the chemical equation.
A balanced chemical reaction shows:
a) What atoms are present before (in the reactants) and after (in the products)
b) How many of each reactant and product is present before and after.


10. So to make H2O from oxygen gas and hydrogen gas, the balanced equation would be:


2 H2 + 1 O2 = 2 H2O



# of atoms in Reactants
Elements
# of atoms in Products
4
H
4
2
O
2




11. This idea is called the Law of Conservation of Mass


12. There must be the same mass and the same number of atoms before the reaction (in the reactants) and after the reaction (in the products).


13. What is the balanced equation for this reaction?




2 Cu + 2 O2 = 2 CuO


14. In the unbalanced equation there are:


Reactants                 Products


Cu atoms 1      Cu atoms 1


O atoms 2        O atoms 1






15. To balance this equation, we have to add 2 molecules to the products, because this reaction doesn’t make lone 2 atoms.


16. When we added a molecule of CuO, now the number of Reactant atoms is balanced but the number of Product atoms don’t match.  Now we have to add more reactant atoms to the reactants.  


17. The balanced equation for this reaction is


2 Cu   +   2 O2   =   2 CuO


This is the same thing as saying:


Reactants                   Products


# Cu atoms 2    =    # Cu atoms 2


# O atoms 2     =     # O atoms 2


18. What is the balanced equation for this reaction? (Use the table to keep track of the atoms on each side.)


1 CH4 + 2 O2 = 2 H2O + 1 CO2




# of atoms in Reactants
Elements
# of atoms in Products
1
C
1
4
H
2
2
O
3




19. What is the balanced equation for this reaction? (Use the table to keep track of the atoms on each side.)


1 N2 + 3 H2 = 2 NH3




# of atoms in Reactants
Elements
# of atoms in Products
2
N
1
2
H
3




20. What is the balanced equation for this reaction? (Use the table to keep track of the atoms on each side.)


2 KClO3 = 2 KCl + 3 O2




# of atoms in Reactants
Elements
# of atoms in Products
1
K
1
1
Cl
1
3
O
2




21. What is the balanced equation for this reaction? (Use the table to keep track of the atoms on each side.)


4 Al + 3 O2 = 2 Al2O3




# of atoms in Reactants
Elements
# of atoms in Products
1
Al
2
2
O
3





SU M M A R Y


1) Chemical reactions always involve old bonds.


2) The Law of Conservation of Mass says that the same atoms must be present before and after the reaction.


3) To balance a chemical equation, you change the coefficients in front of each substance until there are the same number of each type of atoms in both reactants and products.

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