Question

Differentiate between:
A balanced and a skeletal chemical equation.

Answer 1

Chemical reaction is represented in form of chemical equation. The balanced chemical equation follows the law of conservation of mass and the skeletal equation does not follow law of conservation of mass.

Complete step by step answer:
Chemical equation is defined as the presentation of the chemical reaction in the forms of symbols. The reactant compound and product compound is represented with their chemical formula.
In the chemical equation, the reactant compound is placed in the left side of the reaction and the product compound is placed at the right side of the reaction.
Skeletal equation is also referred to as an unbalanced equation in which the total number of the moles of atoms on the product side is not equal to the total number of the moles of atoms on the reactant side.
Example of Skeletal equation:
${H_2}(g) + {O_2}(g) \to {H_2}O(l)$
In the above reaction, it can be seen that the number of moles total atoms on the reactant side is four and on the product side is three.
Balanced equation is opposite to skeletal equation in which the total number of the moles of atom on the product side is equal to the number of the moles of atom on the reactant side.
Example of Balanced equation:
$2{H_2}(g) + {O_2}(g) \to 2{H_2}O(l)$
In the above reaction, it can be seen that the number of moles of the total atom on the reactant side is six and on the product side is six.

Note: The state of the compound is symbolized adjacent to them which determine the physical nature of the compound. (s) is symbolized for solid, (l) is symbolized for liquid, (g) is symbolized for gas and (aq) is symbolized for the aqueous solution.