How can I balance this equation? ____ N2 + ____ H2 ---> ____ NH3
2 Answers
This reaction is the synthesis of Ammonia using Nitrogen and Hydrogen gas.
We must remember that Nitrogen and Hydrogen are both diatomic molecules in their standard gas form. This adjusts the equation to
Now we need to adjust coefficients in order to balance the atoms on each side of the equation. Currently we have 2 atoms of nitrogen and 2 atoms of hydrogen on the reactant side and 1 atom of nitrogen and 3 atoms of hydrogen on the product side.
We can balance the hydrogens by placing a coefficient of 2 in front of ammonia and a coefficient of 3 in front of the hydrogen.
This gives us 6 hydrogen on each side and coincidentally the nitrogens now equal 2 on each side.
I hope this was helpful.
SMARTERTEACHER
Explanation:
Let us balance this equation by counting the number of atoms on both sides of the arrow.
N=2 , H=2 N=1, H=3
To balance the number of N atom on Right Hand Side (RHS) , I will add one molecule of N
N=2 , H=2 N=2 , H= 6
To balance the number of H atoms on Left Hand Side (LHS) , I will add two molecules of
N=2 , H=6 N=2 , H= 6
