What is the balanced symbol equation for hydrogen reacting with oxygen to form water? Please can you expian it as well. :P

Question

anonymous · Answer

We know that oxygen, and hydrogen are diatomic elements
and the formula for water is H20
So: $$O_{2} + H_{2} -> H_{2}O$$
Looking at the equation, theres 2 O , 2H on one side and 2H and 1O on the right side
We have to balance the number of atoms of both sides,
In order to balance the Oxygens, we have to have equal ammounts on each side, 
$$O_{2} + H_{2} -> 2H_{2}O$$
Now, there are equal amounts of oxygen on each side, but now the hydrogens are unbalanced, so we add a 2 in front of hydrogen to finsih balancing, getting:
$$O_{2} +2 H_{2} -> 2H_{2}O$$