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View Full Version : NaOH + CO2 yields NaHCO3 + H2O balanced?


Kayleeminer
Feb 6, 2011, 09:00 AM

Unknown008
Feb 6, 2011, 10:22 AM
To see whether an equation is balanced, count each atom on each side of the equation.

Here, you have, on the left,
1 Na
3 O
1 H
1 C

and on the right:
1 Na
3 H
1 C
4 O

And as you can see, there are not the same number of atoms on each side, hence, the equation is not balanced.

Try putting some numbers in front of compounds to balance it. Can you balanced it? :)

DrBob1
Feb 8, 2011, 08:43 PM
Do you see your problem yet? You can't balance the equaion as written because NaOH + CO2 --> NaHCO3. Other than 0 there is no coefficient for H2O that will balance it. This makes sense because water is not a product when CO2 and NaOH react.