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Chapter 3: Problem 56

What is the difference between a chemical reaction and a chemical equation?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A chemical reaction is an actual process that results in the transformation of substances, whereas a chemical equation is a written representation of a chemical reaction. The equation represents the reactants, products and their quantities involved in the reaction.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Chemical Reaction

A chemical reaction describes the process where one or more substances are changed into one or more different substances. In a chemical reaction, the atomic structure of substance changes as the atoms rearrange to create a new substance.
02

Understanding Chemical Equation

A chemical equation, on the other hand, is the symbolic representation of a chemical reaction. The reactants (substances that are transformed in a chemical reaction) are written on the left, while the products (substances that are produced by the chemical reaction) are written on the right. The equation is balanced when the number of atoms for every element is the same on both the reactant and product sides of the equation.
03

Main Difference

The main difference between a chemical reaction and a chemical equation lies in their definitions. While a chemical reaction is the actual process of changing one set of substances into another, a chemical equation is the symbolic representation of that reaction. Reactions describe the process scientifically, and Equations are the written format of that description.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Why is the theoretical yield of a reaction determined only by the amount of the limiting reagent?

The annual production of sulfur dioxide from burning coal and fossil fuels, auto exhaust, and other sources is about 26 million tons. The equation for the reaction is $$ \mathrm{S}(s)+\mathrm{O}_{2}(g) \longrightarrow \mathrm{SO}_{2}(g) $$ How much sulfur (in tons), present in the original materials, would result in that quantity of \(\mathrm{SO}_{2} ?\)

The depletion of ozone \(\left(\mathrm{O}_{3}\right)\) in the stratosphere has been a matter of great concern among scientists in recent years. It is believed that ozone can react with nitric oxide (NO) that is discharged from the high-altitude jet plane, the SST. The reaction is $$ \mathrm{O}_{3}+\mathrm{NO} \longrightarrow \mathrm{O}_{2}+\mathrm{NO}_{2} $$ If \(0.740 \mathrm{~g}\) of \(\mathrm{O}_{3}\) reacts with \(0.670 \mathrm{~g}\) of \(\mathrm{NO}\), how many grams of \(\mathrm{NO}_{2}\) will be produced? Which compound is the limiting reagent? Calculate the number of moles of the excess reagent remaining at the end of the reaction.

Which of the following has more atoms: \(1.10 \mathrm{~g}\) of hydrogen atoms or \(14.7 \mathrm{~g}\) of chromium atoms?

Describe the steps involved in the mole method.
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