Form
A chemical equation consists of the chemical formulas of the reactants (the starting substances) and the chemical formula of the products (substances formed in the chemical reaction). The two are separated by an arrow symbol (, usually read as "yields") and each individual substance's chemical formula is separated from others by a plus sign.
As an example, the formula for the burning of methane can be denoted:
- CH4+ 2 O2 CO2+ 2 H2O
This equation would be read as "CH four plus two O two yields CO two and two H two O." But for equations involving complex chemicals, rather than reading the letter and its subscript, the chemical formulas are read using IUPAC nomenclature. Using IUPAC nomenclature, this equation would be read as "methane plus oxygen yields carbon dioxide and water."
This equation indicates that oxygen and CH4 react to form H2O and CO2. It also indicates that two oxygen molecules are required for every methane molecule and the reaction will form two water molecules and one carbon dioxide molecule for every methane and two oxygen molecules that react. The stoichiometric coefficients (the numbers in front of the chemical formulas) result from the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of charge (see "Balancing Chemical Equation" section below for more information).
Read more about this topic: Chemical Equation
Famous quotes containing the word form:
“A publisher is a specialised form of bank or building society, catering for customers who cannot cope with life and are therefore forced to write about it.”
—Colin Haycraft (b. 1929)
“During the long ages of class rule, which are just beginning to cease, only one form of sovereignty has been assigned to all men—that, namely, over all women. Upon these feeble and inferior companions all men were permitted to avenge the indignities they suffered from so many men to whom they were forced to submit.”
—Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906)
“As for the terms good and bad, they indicate no positive quality in things regarded in themselves, but are merely modes of thinking, or notions which we form from the comparison of things with one another. Thus one and the same thing can be at the same time good, bad, and indifferent. For instance music is good for him that is melancholy, bad for him who mourns; for him who is deaf, it is neither good nor bad.”
—Baruch (Benedict)