What is chemical equation?

What is a chemical equation?

A chemical equation is a process that is used to briefly represent chemical changes using symbols of elements and compounds and some signs.

A chemical equation is a shorthand representation of a chemical reaction using chemical formulas and symbols. It shows the reactants, products, and their stoichiometry in the chemical reaction.

In a chemical equation, the reactants are written on the left side of the arrow, and the products are written on the right side of the arrow. The arrow indicates the direction of the reaction. The coefficients written in front of the formulas show the relative amounts of each substance involved in the reaction.

For example, the chemical equation for the combustion of methane gas (CH₄) in the presence of oxygen gas (O₂) to produce carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) and water vapor (H2O) can be written as:

CH₄ + 2O₂ → CO₂ + 2H₂O

This equation shows that one molecule of methane reacts with two molecules of oxygen to produce one molecule of carbon dioxide and two molecules of water. The coefficients in front of each molecule indicate the relative amounts of each substance involved in the reaction.

Chemical equations are an essential tool for chemists to communicate chemical reactions and to calculate the amounts of reactants and products involved in a reaction.