Download A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a

A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction in terms of chemical
formulas. An example of a chemical equation would be:
2Na + Cl2 -> 2NaCl
This chemical equation would stand for the burning of sodium in chlorine to produce sodium
chloride. The formulas on the left side of the equation would stand for the reactant. A reactant is
the starting substance in a compound. The arrow, ->, means either "yields" or "reacts to form."
The formulas to the right of the arrow stand for the product formed in the chemical reaction. A
product is the substance that results from a chemical reaction. The coefficient in front of the Na, 2,
give the number of molecules or formula units involved in the reaction. Coefficients of one are
usually understood, so they are not written.
When the coefficients in a chemical equation are balanced, there are equal numbers of atoms of each
element on both sides of the equation. We say that the chemical equation is balanced. You might ask,
well, why does the chemical equation have to be balanced? Well, the answer to this stems from the atomic
theory. In a chemical reaction, there is only a recombination of the atoms, no atoms are destroyed or
created.
2Na + Cl2 -> 2NaCl
In this reaction you have 2 atoms of sodium + 1 molecule of chlorine reacting to form 2 molecules
of sodium chloride, which is salt.