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?

1 Answer
Jul 16, 2016

#"F"_ (2(g)) + "Ca"_ ((s)) -> "CaF"_ ( 2(s))#

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, #"F"_2#, in the gaseous state, #(g)#
  • calcium, #"Ca"#, in the solid state, #(s)#

Keep in mind that fluorine is a diatomic element, meaning that it exists as #"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, #"CaF"_2#, in the solid state, #(s)#

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

#"F"_ (2(g)) + "Ca"_ ((s)) -> "CaF"_ ( 2(s))#

Is this chemical equation balanced?

As you can see, the reactants' side contains

  • one atom of calcium, #1 xx "Ca"#
  • two atoms of fluorine, #2 xx "F"#

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