How can chemical equations be classified?

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How can chemical equations be classified?

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Answer 1 · 2015-02-12T17:41:17

There are six main types of equations, grouped by how they're formatted and what kind of reaction occurs.

Single Replacement
Format: $A B + C \to A C + B$ $AB + C -> AC + B$

Double Replacement
Format: $A B + C D \to A C + B D$ $AB + CD -> AC + BD$

Synthesis
Format: $A + B \to A B$ $A + B -> AB$

Combustion
Format: $A + O_{2} \to A O$ $A + O_2 -> AO$
Oxygen (diatomic, subscript is 2) combined with a metal, to make the metal oxide. There is only one O in the oxide.

Decomposition
Format: $A B \to A + B$ $AB -> A + B$

Acid-Base
Format: $H A + B \to A + H B$ $HA + B -> A + HB$
Hydrogen is transferred from one to the other.

If any of these formats don't make sense, the best resource is your textbook used in class. The Acid-Base you may or may not use with the rest of these, it fits more into the Acids and Bases topic. Remember to balance all equations.

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How can chemical equations be classified?

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