[shortandsmall]

I know how towrite equations but I do not quite understand how to balance out equation. Can someone help me with this practice problem?

silver oxide when it is heated decompose to produce silver and oxygen gas
now I know the first step is looks like this:
Ag2O... Ag + O2

the two are subscripts and the... representes an arrow

can anyone help me from here?

thanks=]

[BAMAstudent]

to balance the equation your goal is to get the same number of each element on both sides of the equation. In the equation as you have it there are 2 silvers on the left and only 1 on the right along with 1 oxygen the left and 2 on the right.

The first thing you always do is deal with the compounds first(Ag2O). You know that you need 2 of these so that you can balance the Oxygens. The new equation is:

2Ag2)==>Ag+O2.
You know have the same number of oxygens on both sides but you now have 4 silvers on the left and still just 1 on the right. To solve that problem you just need 4 Ag's on the right side. The new and correctly balanced equation is:
2Ag2O==>4Ag +O2

Hope this helped!! Roll Tide!