Question

Why is it important to make sure that chemical equations are balanced and why should you not alter the identities of the substances involved when you balance an equation?
How would an unbalanced chemical equation convey misleading information about what took place during a chemical reaction?

Answer 1

The Law of Conservation of Matter (ever hear of that?) says that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Balanced chemical equations show that the atoms on the reactant side and product side are equal in number.

You should never alter the identities (edit the subscripts in the chemical formula) because this completely changes the identities of the compounds involved. What you can do is change the amounts (edit the compound coefficients, the numbers in front) to satisfy the Law of Conservation of Matter.

An unbalanced chemical equation suggests that you have either created or destroyed matter, which violates the above-stated Law.