How would you construct a balanced equation for the reaction between X and water to form the hydroxide, XOH, and a gas?

Question

Naomi Aronson · Accepted Answer

Here's how I would do it.

Since the metal forms the hydroxide #"XOH"#, it must be an alkali metal. That means the gas it creates is hydrogen, #"H"_2#. The imbalanced formula is #"X" color(white)(l)+ "H"_2"O" → "XOH" + "H"_2# Step 1. Start by putting a #1# in front of the most complicated formula. Let's pick #"H"_2"O"#. #"X" color(white)(l)+ color(red)(1)"H"_2"O" → "XOH" + "H"_2"O"#. Step 2. Balance #"O"#. Put a 1 in front of #"XOH"#. #"X"color(white)(l) + color(red)(1)"H"_2"O" → color(blue)(1)"XOH" + "H"_2# Step 3. Balance #"H"#. There is no way to balance #"H"# without using fractions. We start over, multiplying all our old coefficients by #2#. #"X"color(white)(l) + color(red)(2)"H"_2"O" → color(blue)(2)"XOH" + "H"_2# Now, we have fixed 4 #"H"# atoms on the left and 2 on the right. We can get 4 #"H"# atoms on the right by putting a 1 in front of #"H"_2#. #"X"color(white)(l) + color(red)(2)"H"_2"O" → color(blue)(2)"XOH" + color(orange)(1)"H"_2# Step 4. Finally, balance #"X"#. Put a #2# in front of #"X"#. #color(green)(2)"X" + color(red)(2)"H"_2"O" → color(blue)(2)"XOH" + color(orange)(1)"H"_2# This should bring the equation into balance. Step 5: Verify the atoms' equilibrium. #"Atom"color(white)(m)"LHS"color(white)(m)"RHS"# #stackrel(————————)(color(white)(m)"X"color(white)(mmm)2color(white)(mmll)2)# #color(white)(m)"H"color(white)(mmm)4color(white)(mmll)4# #color(white)(m)"O"color(white)(mmm)2color(white)(mmll)2# Every atom is in balance. The equation that is balanced is #2"X" + 2"H"_2"O" → 2"XOH" + "H"_2#

Xavier Avery · Answer

undefined To construct a balanced equation for the reaction between X and water to form the hydroxide XOH and a gas, we need to determine the chemical formula of X and the gas produced. Once we have the formulas, we can balance the equation by ensuring that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation. Without knowing the specific identity of X and the gas, it is not possible to provide a balanced equation.