Balance this equation. If a coefficient of "1" is required, choose "blank" for that box.

C2H6 + O2 → CO2 + H2O

Question

Balance this equation. If a coefficient of "1" is required, choose "blank" for that box.

C2H6 + O2 → CO2 + H2O

fosterwestlake · Answer

aight aight. no doubt no doubt..

First we'll start by balancing the c's(pssssh we always do oxygen last cuz it sucks)
So I need another c on the right. I'll multiply that carbondioxide by 2. Then I need a total of 6 h's on the right too. So i'll multiply the water by 3. Why? becuase it already has 2 hyrdogens so 3 times 2 will give me the 6 i need on the right. Then I notice that I now have 7 oxygens on the right. Which sucks but we already knew that oxygen sucked. Soooo we'll just put 7 on the left. OH WAIT we can't becuase we'd have to multiply the o2 on the left by 3.5 to get 7 oxygens on the left. So a very   common trick is to just put the 3.5 there and then multiplu ALL the stuff by 2 to get rid of the fractional coefficient. 

$$2(C_2H_6 + 3.5 O_2 = 2CO_2 + 3H_2O) \ \ \2C_2H_6 + 7 O_2 = 4CO_2 + 6H_2O$$