Sure, let's balance the given chemical equation step-by-step. The equation we need to balance is:
[tex]\[ \square \, Zn + \square \, HCl \rightarrow \square \, ZnCl_2 + \square \, H_2 \][/tex]
1. Identify the number of each type of atom on both sides:
- Reactants: \( \text{Zn} \), \( \text{H} \), \( \text{Cl} \)
- Products: \( \text{Zn} \), \( \text{Cl} \), \( \text{H} \)
2. Write down the counts for each atom:
- On the reactant side:
- Zn: 1
- H: 1
- Cl: 1
- On the product side:
- Zn: 1
- H: 2
- Cl: 2 (from \( \text{ZnCl}_2 \))
3. Balance the chlorine (Cl) atoms:
- We need to have 2 chlorine atoms on the reactant side to match the 2 chlorine atoms on the product side.
- To do this, we place a coefficient of 2 in front of HCl:
[tex]\[
\text{Reactants:} \quad 1 \, Zn + 2 \, HCl
\][/tex]
- Now we have:
- Zn: 1
- H: 2
- Cl: 2
4. Check if the hydrogen (H) atoms are balanced:
- With the 2 HCl molecules, we have 2 hydrogen atoms on the reactant side.
- On the product side, we also have 2 hydrogen atoms in \( H_2 \), so hydrogen is balanced.
5. Confirm the balance for zinc (Zn) atoms:
- We have 1 Zn atom on both the reactant and product sides, so zinc is balanced.
The balanced equation is now:
[tex]\[ 1 \, Zn + 2 \, HCl \rightarrow 1 \, ZnCl_2 + 1 \, H_2 \][/tex]
Here are the coefficients for the balanced equation:
- Zn: 1 (understood, so we choose "blank")
- HCl: 2
- ZnCl_2: 1 (understood, so we choose "blank")
- H_2: 1 (understood, so we choose "blank")
Thus, the balanced equation is:
[tex]\[ \square \, Zn + 2 \, HCl \rightarrow \square \, ZnCl_2 + \square \, H_2 \][/tex]
- For Zn: blank
- For HCl: 2
- For ZnCl_2: blank
- For H_2: blank
