Question

Write balance equation for following word equation:
Magnesium $+$ Oxygen $\to$ Magnesium oxide

Answer 1

Chemical equations are a representation of a chemical reaction through their symbols and the formulas. The reactants are written on the left hand side and the formed products are mentioned on the right hand side and the catalysts are mentioned over the arrow.

Complete answer:
Here we have to write the balanced chemical equation, so we will write the equation first of all using its symbol.
Hence, our equation will look like:
$Mg + {O_2} \to MgO$
But, this equation is still unbalanced and we need to balance it.
So, we will look at the number of each atom first on the left hand side and then will make it equal to the right hand side. So let’s start with the magnesium atom, $Mg$ first.
Since we can see that there is $1$ atom of magnesium on the reactant side and $1$ atom on the product side. So the number of $Mg$ atoms in the equation is balanced.
Now , coming to the balancing of oxygen atoms , as we can see that there is $2$ atoms of oxygen , $({O_2})$ on the reactant side and only $1$ atom of oxygen on the product side .thus , to make the oxygen atom balanced in the equation , we need to multiply the product side with $2$ .
Hence our equation becomes:
$Mg + {O_2} \to 2MgO$
But still this equation is not balanced as the number of $Mg$ atoms are unbalanced now.
So to balance $Mg$ atoms, we will multiply $Mg$ by $2$ on the reactant side.
Therefore, our equation becomes:
$2Mg + {O_2} \to 2MgO$
Now, this equation is the balanced equation as both the $Mg$ and the $({O_2})$ atoms are balanced at both the reactant and product side.

Note:
The first chemical equation was given by Jean Beguin in $1615$ . And this given equation is a type of oxidation reaction in which magnesium is oxidised to magnesium oxide and the oxidation state of magnesium is increasing from $0 \to + 2$