

There are two Al atoms on the right side and one on the left. So place a coefficient of 3 in front of the #"CuSO"_4"("aq")#. The chemical formulas for the compounds containing the sulfate ion are correct.) If you look on the left side of the equation, there is one sulfate ion, and on the right side there are three sulfate ions.

If you consider the polyatomic sulfate ion #"SO"_4^(2-)#. If the equation involves a polyatomic ion, it is easier to balance the equation if you consider the polyatomic ion as a single unit. There are equal numbers of each element on both sides of the equation. Now we have two Na atoms on the right side, but only one on the left side, so we add a coefficient of 2 in front of the Na. #"Na"("s")# + #"ZnCl"_2("aq")"#rarr"#"NaCl"("aq")# + #"Zn"("s")#įirst we notice that there are two Cl atoms on the left side of the equation and one on the right, so we add a coefficient of 2 in front of #"NaCl"#. You place coefficients in front of the chemical formulas so that the numbers of atoms of the elements are the same on both sides. You balance the equation for a single replacement reaction the same way as any other equation.
