Question

How would you balance: Al + Fe2O3 → Al2O3 + Fe?

Answer 1

`2Al` + `Fe_2O_3` `rarr` `Al_2O_3` + `2Fe`

Explanation:

One must first balance the metals before balancing non-metals such as Oxygen and Hydrogen (Hydrogen isn't involved in this case).

So therefore on the right hand side you see 2 Aluminium atoms and thus one must add a 2 before the Aluminium on the left hand side.

Secondly the Iron must be balanced, on the left it can be seen that there are 2 Iron atoms in `Fe_2O_3` and thus a 2 must be added on the right hand side in order for them to balance.

Lastly the Oxygens must be balanced but in this case they already are at 3 on each side and thus the whole equation is now balanced.

Hope I helped :)