M4 Periodic Table: Chemical Change
Slide 11 of 35
Coefficients
Coefficients in front of the formula are required to conform to the law of conservation of matter. That is, since matter cannot be destroyed or created, atoms and molecules cannot be destroyed or created in a chemical process. The number of atoms at the end of a chemical process must be equal to the number of atoms in the beginning. For simple combination reaction, you can balance them by drawing (or imagining) particle diagrams.