In this episode, we discuss balancing chemical equations.

Chemical equations require balancing to ensure an equal count of each element's atoms on both the reactant and product sides of a reaction.

The provided example illustrates this process using the formation of water from hydrogen and oxygen.

Initially, the equation H₂ + O₂ → H₂O is unbalanced due to differing oxygen atom numbers.

Adding a water molecule (H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O) then imbalances the hydrogen atoms.

The equation is finally balanced by adding a hydrogen molecule to the reactants, resulting in 2H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O.

Don't miss out on subscribing for more educational content tailored to help you succeed in your exams. Perfect for AQA, OCR, Edexcel, CIE and WJEC exam boards.

⁠Click here to see all of our GCSE Chemistry content!