Question

What steps do you take when balancing a chemical compound?

Answer 1

When balancing a compound or balancing a chemical reaction?

Explanation:

All chemical processes follow the principle of stoichiometry, i.e. mass balance, absolutely. If you start with `10*g` of reactants, from all source, at most you can get `10*g` of products, and in practice you are not even going to get that.

See this old answer on stoichiometry.