How do you write a balanced equation for the complete combustion of $C_{4} H_{8}$ $C_4H_8$ ?

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How do you write a balanced equation for the complete combustion of $C_{4} H_{8}$ $C_4H_8$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-09-09T19:51:25

$2 C_{4} H_{10} + 13 O_{2} \to 8 {CO}_{2} + 10 H_{2} O$ $2"C"_4"H"_10 + 13"O"_2 → 8"CO"_2 + 10"H"_2"O"$

Explanation:

In a combustion reaction, $C$ $"C"$ and $H$ $"H"$ are converted to ${CO}_{2}$ $"CO"_2$ and $H_{2} O$ $"H"_2"O"$ .

Start by writing the unbalanced equation.

$C_{4} H_{10} + O_{2} \to {CO}_{2} + H_{2} O$ $"C"_4"H"_10 + "O"_2 → "CO"_2 + "H"_2"O"$

Put a $1$ $1$ in front of the most complicated formula, $C_{4} H_{10}$ $"C"_4"H"_10$ .

$1 C_{4} H_{10} + O_{2} \to {CO}_{2} + H_{2} O$ $color(red)(1)"C"_4"H"_10 + "O"_2 → "CO"_2 + "H"_2"O"$

Step 1. Balance $C$ $"C"$ .

Put a $4$ $4$ in front of ${CO}_{2}$ $"CO"_2$ .

$1 C_{4} H_{10} + O_{2} \to 4 {CO}_{2} + H_{2} O$ $color(red)(1)"C"_4"H"_10 + "O"_2 → color(orange)(4)"CO"_2 + "H"_2"O"$

Step 2. Balance $H$ $"H"$ .

Put a $5$ $5$ in front of $H_{2} O$ $"H"_2"O"$ .

$1 C_{4} H_{10} + O_{2} \to 4 {CO}_{2} + 5 H_{2} O$ $color(red)(1)"C"_4"H"_10 + "O"_2 → color(orange)(4)"CO"_2 + color(green)(5)"H"_2"O"$

Step 3. Balance $O$ $"O"$ .

We have 13 $O$ $"O"$ atoms on the right and 2 $O$ $"O"$ atoms on the left.

We can't balance $O$ $"O"$ without using fractions.

We start over, multiplying each coefficient by $2$ $2$ .

$2 C_{4} H_{10} + O_{2} \to 8 {CO}_{2} + 10 H_{2} O$ $color(red)(2)"C"_4"H"_10 + "O"_2 → color(orange)(8)"CO"_2 + color(green)(10)"H"_2"O"$

Balance $O$ $"O"$ atoms by putting $13$ $13$ in front of $O_{2}$ $"O"_2$ .

$2 C_{4} H_{10} + 13 O_{2} \to 8 {CO}_{2} + 10 H_{2} O$ $color(red)(2)"C"_4"H"_10 + color(blue)(13)"O"_2 → color(orange)(8)"CO"_2 + color(green)(10)"H"_2"O"$

Every formula now has a coefficient.

Step 4. Check that atoms are balanced.

$Atom m Left hand side m Right hand side$ $"Atom"color(white)(m)"Left hand side"color(white)(m)"Right hand side"$
$m C m m m m m l l 8 m m m m m m m l 8$ $color(white)(m)"C" color(white)(mmmmmll)8color(white)(mmmmmmml)8$
$m H m m m m m 20 m m m m m m m 20$ $color(white)(m)"H"color(white)(mmmmm)20color(white)(mmmmmmm)20$
$m O m m m m m 26 m m m m m m m 26$ $color(white)(m)"O"color(white)(mmmmm)26color(white)(mmmmmmm)26$

All atoms are balanced.

The balanced equation is

$2 C_{4} H_{10} + 13 O_{2} \to 8 {CO}_{2} + 10 H_{2} O$ $2"C"_4"H"_10 + 13"O"_2 → 8"CO"_2 + 10"H"_2"O"$

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How do you write a balanced equation for the complete combustion of $C_{4} H_{8}$ $C_4H_8$ ?

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