A chemical equation is made up of three things. The original reactants, a catalyst, and the product. The reactants are two molecules or molecular compounds which when added together create the product(s). A molecule is made of atoms and there can be more than one atom of each molecule in a chemical equation. A molecular compound is a substance formed by two or more molecules or elements joined together by a chemical bond (the glue). Sometimes the reactants need the help of a catalyst to jump start the chemical reaction to get your product. A catalyst should not be accounted for within the chemical equation and can be ignored when doing the final balancing.
Steps to Balancing an Equation:
1. Count the amount of atoms within each element for each side of the equation
ex.
H-2 | H-2
O-2 | O-3
2. Point out which molecules are uneven
3. Multiply each side by a number to end up with the same amount of atoms
4. Do a recount of the atoms
H-4 | H-4
O-4 | O-4
5. If everything is equal, you have balanced your equation!
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