Write the equation that expresses in acceptable chemical shorthand the following statement: "Iron can be made to react with molecular oxygen to give iron(III) oxide."

Chemical reactions are processes where reactants transform into products through the breaking and forming of chemical bonds. In a chemical reaction, the substances that undergo change are known as reactants, while the new substances produced are called products. During the reaction, reactants are consumed and products are formed in a way that adheres to the law of conservation of mass, which states that mass cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.

The process includes understanding the reactivity of different substances, predicting the products of reactions, and knowing how to represent these reactions with balanced chemical equations. For example, when iron (Fe) reacts with molecular oxygen (O2), iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) is formed. This particular reaction is fundamental in industries such as steel production where iron is converted to its oxide as a part of the rusting process or during the purification of the metal.

We can represent this through a straightforward equation:

• Iron (Fe) - Reactant
• Molecular Oxygen (O2) - Reactant
• Iron(III) Oxide (Fe2O3) - Product

In chemical equations, reactants are typically listed on the left side and products on the right, with an arrow pointing from reactants to products to indicate the direction of the transformation. When we write chemical equations, it's critical to clearly identify each reactant and product to understand the changes undergoing during the reaction. For the transformation of iron and oxygen into iron(III) oxide, we list iron (Fe) and oxygen (O2) as the reactants, and iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3) as the product.

The initial unbalanced equation simply shows which reactants yield which products, without indicating the quantitative relationships: ... and then balancing is taken into account.

Stoichiometry is the aspect of chemistry that pertains to the quantitative relationships between reactants and products in a chemical reaction. It involves using balanced chemical equations to calculate the amounts of reactants needed or the amount of products formed. The balanced chemical equation must reflect the conservation of mass and charge, meaning the number of atoms for each element and the total charge must be the same on both sides of the equation.

In the example of iron combining with oxygen to form iron(III) oxide, we must ensure that the atoms are balanced on both sides. Through balancing, we determine that it takes 4 atoms of iron and 3 molecules of oxygen to produce 2 formula units of iron(III) oxide: ... This balanced equation can then be used to determine the necessary amounts of iron and oxygen to obtain a specific quantity of iron(III) oxide, or vice versa, which is critical for practical applications like industrial synthesis.