How To Balance Equations - Part 1

Learn the basics about balancing equations, as a part of chemical calculations. The law of conservation of mass states that no atoms are lost or made during a chemical reaction. There are different ways of arranging the atoms. Chemical reactions are about rearranging atoms. Chemical reactions can be represented by symbol equations so long as the number of atoms on each side of the equals sign remains the same. Equations need to be balanced to conserve atoms, by putting numbers in front. A good way to balance an equation is to use a table to keep track of everything. You can only change the big number in front of the compounds, which says how many molecules you have. Charges in a formula also need to be balanced. So, both the atoms and the charges have to balance. Nothing can appear or disappear! This is the most important rule about balancing: no atoms or charges can be made or destroyed.