Chapter 9, Problem 9CR

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The question asks to explain the meaning of a balanced chemical equation both at molecular and macroscopic levels.

Concept Introduction:

Daltons’ atomic theory states that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Since matter is composed of atoms and molecules in order to be consistent with this principle one has to make sure that the number of atoms/molecules of each type of atoms are equal on both sides of the reaction.

There can be many ways of achieving this using several set of coefficients in front of each reactants and products. But the combination with the lowest possible integers are the valid stoichiometric coefficients in a balanced chemical reaction.