Hydrochloric acid reacts with sodium hydroxide to release water and sodium chloride. Which of these is a balanced chemical equation for this reaction?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Here are the answer choices:
	2HCl + 2NaOH → H2O + 2NaCl
	HCl + NaOH → H2O + NaCl
	HCl + 2NaOH → H2O + 2NaCl
	2HCl + NaOH → 2H2O + NaCl

anonymous · Answer

Check to see how many of each atom are on either side of the equation, and if all of the numbers match the equation is balanced.

Example:
in the first equation there are
left side:                                  right side:
4 hydrogen atoms (H)               2 hydrogen atoms (H)...
2 chlorine atoms (Cl)
2 sodium atoms (Na)
2 oxygen atoms (O)

since there aren't enough H atoms on the right side, it isn't balanced

anonymous · Answer

You can count each atom just by looking and you should figure out which eq. is balanced by doing so

anonymous · Answer

thank you! @KinzaN