CBSE Class 10 Answered

In order to satisfy the law of conservation of mass, the chemical equations need to be balanced.

To balance chemical equations, one must understand what the law of conservation of mass is.

It states that the mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of products.

Consider the following equation.

CH₄ + O₂ →CO₂ + H₂O

In the above equation, we have 4 hydrogen atoms on the reactant side and 2 on the product side.

This violates the law of conservation of mass hence we must balance it so there are an equal amount of hydrogen atoms on both sides.

We must do that for every element in the equation.

CH₄ + O₂ →CO₂ + 2H₂O