In chemistry, it's really important to understand reactants and products, especially when we look at chemical equations.
Reactants are the starting materials in a reaction. Think of them like the ingredients you need in a recipe. For example, when you bake cookies, the flour, sugar, and eggs are your reactants. In a chemical equation, you’ll see them on the left side.
Products, on the other hand, are what you end up with after the reaction happens. Using our cookie example again, the tasty cookies that come out of the oven are the products. In a chemical equation, you’ll find them on the right side.
When we create a balanced chemical equation, it’s really important that the number of atoms for each element is the same on both sides. This is based on the law of conservation of mass. This law tells us that matter can’t be created or destroyed.
For example, look at this reaction:
Here, you can see that there are 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms on the left side (the reactants). On the right side (the products), there are also 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
Balancing equations is important because it helps us clearly show what happens in chemical reactions!
In chemistry, it's really important to understand reactants and products, especially when we look at chemical equations.
Reactants are the starting materials in a reaction. Think of them like the ingredients you need in a recipe. For example, when you bake cookies, the flour, sugar, and eggs are your reactants. In a chemical equation, you’ll see them on the left side.
Products, on the other hand, are what you end up with after the reaction happens. Using our cookie example again, the tasty cookies that come out of the oven are the products. In a chemical equation, you’ll find them on the right side.
When we create a balanced chemical equation, it’s really important that the number of atoms for each element is the same on both sides. This is based on the law of conservation of mass. This law tells us that matter can’t be created or destroyed.
For example, look at this reaction:
Here, you can see that there are 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms on the left side (the reactants). On the right side (the products), there are also 4 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms.
Balancing equations is important because it helps us clearly show what happens in chemical reactions!