Is this equation properly balanced? 4Fe+3O22Fe2O3?

1 Answer
May 11, 2017

Yes! (See explanation)

Explanation:

Count how many Fe and O2 you have on both left and right sides:

You are given:

4Fe+3O22Fe2O3

4:Fe:4
6:O2:6

You actually have the same number of Fe on both sides, The same is true for O2 so yes this equation is properly balanced.

For added benefit consider the following equation:

CH4+O2CO2+2H2O

ASK: Is this equation balanced? Quick answer: No

ASK: So how do we know and how do we then balance it?

DO: Count the number of each atom type you have on each side of the equation:

1:C:1
4:H:4
2:O:4

As you can see everything is balanced except for O To balance O we can simply add a coefficient of 2 in front of O2 on the left side which would result in 4 O atoms:

CH4+2O2CO2+2H2O

1:C:1
4:H:4
4:O:4

Everything is now balanced.