Question

Complete the reaction:
$2Cu+{{H}_{2}}O+C{{O}_{2}}+{{O}_{2}}\to$

Answer 1

To solve this type of question it is important to understand the reaction condition and the type of reaction. And the most important step is to balance the chemical reaction.

Complete Solution :
The chemical reaction given in the question is:
$2Cu+{{H}_{2}}O+C{{O}_{2}}+{{O}_{2}}\to$
We know that copper reacts with oxygen, water and carbon dioxide to produce copper hydroxycarbonate. The molecular formula of copper hydroxycarbonate is: $C{{u}_{2}}{{(OH)}_{2}}C{{O}_{3}}$ .

Hence, the overall reaction can be written as:
$2Cu+{{H}_{2}}O+C{{O}_{2}}+{{O}_{2}}\to C{{u}_{2}}{{(OH)}_{2}}C{{O}_{3}}$

- Now we have to check whether the reaction is balanced or not. Law of conservation of mass states that both the reactants and products have the same mass. And we know that in a chemical reaction mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. Initially we will check whether the given reactants and products are correct or not. There are coefficients which are used to balance the reaction. We should remember that the subscript near each element cannot be changed; we can only change the coefficients to balance the reaction.
So here if we check there are 2 copper on the right hand side and 2 copper on the left hand side of the reaction. Similarly, there are 2 hydrogens on both right hand side and left hand side of the reaction respectively and 5 oxygen and 1 carbon on both right hand side and left hand side of the reaction respectively.
This means that this reaction is already balanced. Hence, the final answer will be:
$2Cu+{{H}_{2}}O+C{{O}_{2}}+{{O}_{2}}\to C{{u}_{2}}{{(OH)}_{2}}C{{O}_{3}}$

Note: The chemical equation can also be written in ionic form. But the equation has to be balanced by balancing mass and charge on the reactant and product side. We have to follow the law of conservation of charge also.