Big Ideas

• In this skill we will learn to balance simple chemical equations that contain just two different elements.
• When the number of atoms of reactants is equal to the number of atoms of products for all elements, then the equation is balanced!
• Start by counting up the number of atoms of each element in each of the reactants and the products.
• If there is not enough of an element in the reactants or products, add a coefficient on that side of the equation, and relcalculate the number of atoms of each element to see if the equation is balanced yet!

Tips

• You may need to go through several rounds of changing the coefficients and counting the elements before the equation is balanced - don't give up!
• You can speed up the process by making intelligent guesses of what the coefficient might be.