Fluorine gas is placed in contact with calcium metal at high temperatures to produce calcium fluoride powder What is the chemical equation for this reaction?

Jul 16, 2016

${\text{F"_ (2(g)) + "Ca"_ ((s)) -> "CaF}}_{2 \left(s\right)}$

Explanation:

Your job here is to write a balanced chemical equation that describes this synthesis reaction.

The first thing to do is identify your reactants, which are the substances that get transformed in a chemical reaction. In this case, you have

• fluorine, ${\text{F}}_{2}$, in the gaseous state, $\left(g\right)$
• calcium, $\text{Ca}$, in the solid state, $\left(s\right)$

Keep in mind that fluorine is a diatomic element, meaning that it exists as ${\text{F}}_{2}$ molecules.

Next, identify your product, which is the substance that is formed by a chemical reaction. For your reaction, you have

• calcium fluoride, ${\text{CaF}}_{2}$, in the solid state, $\left(s\right)$

A chemical reaction features the reactants on the left side of the reaction arrow and the products on the right side of the reaction arrow. Place your substances accordingly to get

${\text{F"_ (2(g)) + "Ca"_ ((s)) -> "CaF}}_{2 \left(s\right)}$

Is this chemical equation balanced?

As you can see, the reactants' side contains

• one atom of calcium, $1 \times \text{Ca}$
• two atoms of fluorine, $2 \times \text{F}$

Since you can say the same thing about the product's side, the chemical equation is balanced.