CH4 + O2 ® CO2 + H2O
A chemical equation is balanced
by adding coefficients in front of the chemicals.
1. Begin by balancing elements
that occur in only one substance on
each side
–In
this example C or H.
–C is already balanced and there are 4 H on the left but
only 2 on the right.
–The number of H atoms on the right can be increased to 4
by multiplying it by 2 (by adding the coefficient 2).
–Add
2 in front of H2O (and not change H2O to H4O).
CH4 + O2 ® CO2 + 2H2O