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EvelynLatina
Mar 31, 2009, 04:26 PM
okay word equations now can u solve it into the scientific way?:confused:

Aluminum bromide plus chlorine yield aluminum chloride and bromine

Perito
Apr 1, 2009, 12:46 PM
First, look up the molecular formulas for the following. I'll do the first, you do the rest.

Aluminum Bromide - AlBr_3
Chlorine
Aluminum Chloride
Bromine

Once you have that, put a double-headed arrow between the reactants (put on the left side) and the products (put on the right side). Put "+" signs between them. Once you have that written down, you proceed to balance the equation.

For example, if I had the following "word problem"

sodium bicarbonate plus hydrochloric acid react to form sodium chloride, water, and carbon dioxide

I would do the following

sodium bicarbonate = Na_2CO_3
hydrochloric acid = HCl
sodium chloride = NaCl
water = H_2O
carbon dioxide = CO_2

then

Na2CO_3 + HCl = NaCl + H_2O + CO_2

I can see that I have two sodiums on the left, so I put two on the right

Na2CO_3 + HCl = 2\,NaCl + H_2O + CO_2

Now, I need two chlorines on the left, so it becomes

Na2CO_3 + 2\,HCl = 2\,NaCl + H_2O + CO_2

Interestingly, that gives me two hydrogens that I need for the water, and the carbons and oxygens also are balanced, so the work is done.