1. Balancing Chemical Equations
Science 10

2. Word Equation
Every chemical reaction can be presented as a word equation. The word equation will then be used to build a skeleton equation and finally a balanced chemical equation
Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water

3. Skeleton Equation
An unbalanced equation is developed from the word equation:
Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water
__H2 + __O2  __H2O

4. Balanced Equation
The balanced equation is produced using the lowest possible ratio in front of each element or compound to have the same number and type of atoms on each side
Hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen gas to form water (word)
__H2 + __O2  __H2O (skeleton)
2 H O2  2 H2O (balanced)

5. MINOH
A standard approach can be helpful in balancing chemical equations
The MINOH method provides the order in which elements will be considered when balancing an chemical equation
M – metals
I – polyatomic ions
N – non-metals (except oxygen and hydrogen)
O – oxygen
H - hydrogen

6. Balancing M I N O H __H2 + __O2  __H2O 2 2 O - H - 2 4 O - H - 1 2 2

7. Balancing M I N O H __H2SO4 + __NaOH  __H2O +__Na2SO4 2 2 Na - SO4 –1 3 2 4
Na -
SO4 –
O –
H - 2 1 2 4

8. Balancing M I N O H __C3H8 + __O2  __CO2 +__H2O 5 3 4 C - O – H – 3 210
C -
O –
H – 1 3 2 3 7 10 8

9. Practice Problems
MINOH Practice Sheet
Problems 1-20