Labs / Chemistry
Equation Balancer
A chemical reaction can rearrange atoms, but it can never create or destroy them. Nudge each species' coefficient up or down and watch the atom-count bars for every element. When both sides carry the same atoms, mass is conserved and the balance scale settles level.
state unbalancedreactants 0 g/molproducts 0 g/mol
What to try
- Start with water. If you have plenty of H₂ but only one O₂, which side of the scale drops, and why?
- In the methane reaction, can you balance the carbon and hydrogen first and still keep the oxygen matched — or does fixing one element break another?
- Why does rust (Fe + O₂ → Fe₂O₃) need such large coefficients while water needs only small ones?
- When the equation is balanced, why do the two pans read the exact same mass in g/mol?
- Is there more than one set of coefficients that balances a reaction — and if so, what makes one set the “simplest”?