Why do you need to balance chemical equations?

Therefore, the equation does not satisfy the law of conservation of mass, and is not balanced. In order to balance the equation, we must change the amounts of the reactants and products, as necessary, by adding coefficients in front of the appropriate formula(s). read more

If you compare the unbalanced equation to the balanced equation, you will see that the chemical formulas of each reactant and product were not changed. The only change is the coefficient of 2 written in front of the formula for oxygen on the reactant side, and the coefficient of 2 written in front of the formula for water on the product side. read more

It is important to balance chemical equations because there must be an equal number of atoms on both sides of the equation to follow the Law of the Conservation of Mass. read more

Secondly, if you want to calculate how much energy is absorbed/released in the reaction, you need to know exactly how many of each chemical in the formula is required. To balance the equation, I write out the equation, and then count the number of instances of each element on each side of the “=” sign. read more