Question

What is the balanced equation for sodium chloride?

Answer 1

A balanced equation is a chemical reaction equation in which both the reactants and the products have the same total charge and number of atoms for each part in the reaction.
Often called balancing the equation, balancing the reaction, and charge and mass conservation.

Complete step by step answer:
The combination reaction occurs when two or more substances $\left( {reactants} \right)$are mixed together directly to produce a single product $\left( {the{\text{ }}product} \right)$. Combination reactions occur when sodium $\left( {Na} \right)$ reacts with chlorine $\left( {C{l_2}} \right)$to form sodium chloride or table salt$\left( {NaCl} \right)$.
Follow the steps to learn how to balance the chemical equation for sodium chloride:
First, write down the equation,
$Na\left( s \right) + C{l_2}\left( g \right) \to NaCl\left( s \right)$
Then, make a list of how many atoms each element has. Carry out this procedure on each side of the equation. To figure out how many atoms are in the equation, look at the subscripts next to each one.
Left side: $1$ sodium$\left( {Na} \right)$, $2$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
Right side: $1$ sodium $\left( {Na} \right)$, $1$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
Then, make the single chlorine atom on the right of the equation balance with the $2$ chlorine atoms on the left. For that, add a coefficient on the right side.
$Na\left( s \right) + C{l_2}\left( g \right) \to 2NaCl\left( s \right)$
Now,
Left side: $1$ sodium$\left( {Na} \right)$, $2$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
Right side: $2$ sodium $\left( {Na} \right)$, $2$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
Now we have to make the single sodium atom on the left of the equation balance with the $2$ sodium atoms on the right. For that, add a coefficient.
$2Na\left( s \right) + C{l_2}\left( g \right) \to 2NaCl\left( s \right)$
So now again, check the number of atoms each element has.
Left side: $2$sodium$\left( {Na} \right)$, $2$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
Right side: $2$sodium $\left( {Na} \right)$, $2$ chlorine $\left( {Cl} \right)$
We can find that the sodium and chlorine atoms are balanced.
So, the balanced equation for sodium chloride is,
$2Na\left( s \right) + C{l_2}\left( g \right) \to 2NaCl\left( s \right)$

Note:
$NaCl$ is a salt that contains both a strong acid and a strong base. We should remember that the mass and charge on both sides of the reaction are equal in a balanced equation. You can change the coefficients in a chemical equation, but you must never change the subscripts.