Question

What do the charges on the atoms on each side (right and left sides) of the chemical equation indicate?

Answer 1

The charges describe the relative charges of an atom / molecule involved in the reaction (either as a reactant (left side) or product(right side))

Explanation:

In the following half equation, the +2 charge on the Fe ion in the LEFT side of the equation indicates that the atom of Iron reacting has a relative charge of +2. The +3 charge on the Fe ion in the RIGHT side of the equation indicates that the atom of Iron produced has a relative charge of +3.

`Fe^"+2"->Fe^"+3"+e^-`

Note; equations must be balanced to be considered representative of what is happening in a reaction. In this case, an electron (a relative charge of -1) is written. In reality, this electron would actually be involved in the bonding to another atom / molecule. But we need it here to show the balance (+2 on both the LEFT and RIGHT side of the equation).