Chemical reactions and what they're made of

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Chemical Reactions

A chemical reaction is a reaction between two chemicals that produces a product. Chemical reactions are shown and explained through chemical equations. A chemical equation should be balanced on both sides, according to the Law of Conservation of Matter.  

This means that there should be the exact same number of atoms on both the reactant side of the equation and on the product side of the equation. Let’s explore a little deeper…

How can you tell if a Chemical Reaction happened?

Well, the way you would figure that out is changing. You see chemical reactions everyday of your life! If you are a cook, then you probably know that, but even if you aren’t, you still see them. Do you straighten your hair? Do you dye your hair? Do you breathe? These are all examples of chemical reactions. But the way you can tell if they happened was this:

• They change color (hair dyeing)
• They change smell (something burning on the stove)
• They change temperature (like water in the shower)
• They change acidity (When you take TUMS)

Basically, if anything changes at all, a chemical reaction has taken place.

Balancing Chemical Equations

Cooking recipes are balanced chemical equations. You have to have each ingredient balanced with the others to have a good taste. Remember, in chemical equations, atoms are ONLY transformed, not created or destroyed. There is a series of steps to help you understand how to balance a chemical equation.

1. Get an unbalanced chemical equation.
2. Put boxes around each little chemical formula in the equation. (This is to ensure that you don't'’ change anything inside the boxes)
3. Have an element inventory. (Have a list of the elements and the numbers on both sides of the arrow, reactants, and products. Keep it close. It will come in handy.)
4. Write coefficients in front of the boxes. (You can count numbers and do the math and you will find out the right number to place there.)
5. Count again. (Check the numbers on both sides. They should match. If they don't, then you need the remaining steps.)
6. Coefficient again.
7. Count again.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until your equation is balanced.

Let's’ look at some examples.

S&EP: SP5: Using Mathematics

We had to use lots of math this week in our projects. With the chemical equations, we had to use math to balance them correctly. If they were not correctly balanced, we had to keep trying until they were. It was hard to do it at first, and there were some pretty tricky equations, but there is the one way to do it, the easiest way.

XCC, Cause and Effect

This week, I noticed that if we did one thing in the chemical equation, it changes another thing in it. You had to change only one part of it to change nearly the whole thing. It was cool, and I think that changing one thing that changes everything else is awesome.