Question

Balance the following equation
$Fe{S_2} + {O_2} \to F{e_2}{O_3} + S{O_2}$

Answer 1

A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of a chemical reaction in which the reactants and products are represented by their respective chemical formulae. The reactant side is said to be the part of the chemical equation to the left of the ‘$\to$’ symbol while the product side is the part to the right of the arrow symbol. oxidation state or number helps us describe the transfer of electrons.

Complete answer:
The charge that an atom appears to have when forming ionic bonds with other heteroatoms is defined as its oxidation number. A negative oxidation state is assigned to an atom with a higher electronegativity.
In order to balance the above reactions, we need to follow the following steps
Step $1$ : Find the change in oxidation number.
In the given reaction, the oxidation number of $Fe$ increases by $+ 1$ and the oxidation number of $S$ is increased from $- 1$ to $+ 4$.
Step $2$: Determine the total change in oxidation number.
$F{e^{ + 2}} \to F{e^{ + 1}}$ Here, the oxidation number increases by $1$.
$S_2^{ - 1} \to 2{S^{ + 4}}$ Here, the oxidation number increases by $10$.
${O_2} \to 2{O^{ - 2}}$ Here, the oxidation number decreases by $4$
So, total increase in oxidation number is $11$ and decrease is $4$.
Step $3$:In order to balance both the sides, multiply $Fe{S_2}$ by $4$ and ${O_2}$ by $11$
So, we get the balanced reaction,
$4Fe{S_2} + 11{O_2} \to 2F{e_2}{O_3} + 8S{O_2}$

Note:
In simple words, the oxidation number is the number assigned to the components in a chemical combination. The oxidation number is the total number of electrons that atoms in a molecule can share, lose, or gain while forming chemical bonds with atoms of another element.