To balance the chemical equation [tex]\( \text{KClO}_3 \rightarrow \text{KCl} + \text{O}_2 \)[/tex], follow these steps:
1. Count the atoms of each element on both sides of the equation:
- On the left side (reactants): 1 potassium (K), 1 chlorine (Cl), and 3 oxygen (O) atoms from [tex]\( \text{KClO}_3 \)[/tex].
- On the right side (products): 1 potassium (K) from [tex]\( \text{KCl} \)[/tex], 1 chlorine (Cl) from [tex]\( \text{KCl} \)[/tex], and 2 oxygen (O) atoms from [tex]\( \text{O}_2 \)[/tex].
2. Balance the potassium (K) and chlorine (Cl) atoms first:
- Both [tex]\( \text{K} \)[/tex] and [tex]\( \text{Cl} \)[/tex] are already balanced with 1 atom of each on both sides.
3. Balance the oxygen (O) atoms:
- There are 3 oxygen atoms on the left (from [tex]\( \text{KClO}_3 \)[/tex]) and 2 oxygen atoms on the right (from [tex]\( \text{O}_2 \)[/tex]).
- To equalize the number of oxygen atoms, we need 3 molecules of [tex]\( \text{O}_2 \)[/tex] for a total of 6 oxygen atoms on the right side.
- This means we need 2 molecules of [tex]\( \text{KClO}_3 \)[/tex] to balance the 6 oxygen atoms on the left side as well.
4. Thus, the balanced equation is:
[tex]\[
2 \text{KClO}_3 \rightarrow 2 \text{KCl} + 3 \text{O}_2
\][/tex]
Therefore, the correct coefficients to properly balance the equation are:
[tex]\[
2 \text{KClO}_3 \rightarrow 2 \text{KCl} + 3 \text{O}_2
\][/tex]
