The answer is option 2 , the smallest whole-number coefficients, the coefficient of Pb²⁺ will be 2.
What is a Balanced Chemical Equation ?
Law of conservation of mass states that mass can neither be created nor be destroyed but it can only be transformed from one form to another form.
This also means that total mass on the reactant side must be equal to the total mass on the product side.
There are two types of numbers that appear in chemical equations.
There are subscripts, which are part of the chemical formulas of the reactants and products;
and there are coefficients that are placed in front of the formulas to indicate how many molecules of that substance is used or produced.
Balance The Equation:
Pb²⁺ + Au²⁺ = Pb⁴⁺ + Au
Label Each Compound With a Variable
Label each compound with a variable to represent the unknown coefficients.
aPb²⁺ + bAu²⁺ = c Pb⁴⁺ + d Au
Create a System of Equations
Create an equation for each element where each term represents the number of atoms of the element in each reactant or product.
Pb: 2a + 0b = 4c + 0d
Au: 0a + 2b = 0c + 1d
e: 0a + -1b = -1c + 0d
2a - 4c = 0
2b - 1d = 0
-1b + 1c = 0
Solve For All Variables
Use substitution,
Substitute Coefficients and Verify Result
2Pb²⁺ + Au²⁺ = Pb⁴⁺ + 2 Au
So the answer is 2 , option 2
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