Sulfuric acid, H2SO4, can be neutralized by sodium hydroxide, NaOH. The unbalanced equation is: H2SO4(aq) + NaOH(aq) → Na2SO4(aq) + H2O(l)

A student who was asked to balance the reaction wrote the following:

H2SO4(aq) + Na2OH(aq) →Na2SO4(aq) + H3O(l)

Is this correct? Explain why or why not using what you know about the law of conservation of mass and chemical changes. If necessary, provide the correct balanced equation.

The correct balanced equation :

H₂SO₄(aq) + 2 NaOH(aq) ⇒ Na₂SO₄(aq) + 2 H₂O(l)

Conservation of mass applies to a closed system, where the masses before and after the reaction are the same, so balanced chemical equations show that mass is conserved in chemical reactions.

A student wrote the reaction :

H₂SO₄(aq) + Na₂OH(aq) →Na₂SO₄(aq) + H₃O(l)

This reaction is wrong because students make changes to the subscript in chemical compounds (chemical compounds have a fixed mass ratio) while in balancing chemical reactions, what is changed is the reaction coefficient (both products and reactants)

The correct balanced equation.

H₂SO₄(aq) + 2 NaOH(aq) ⇒ Na₂SO₄(aq) + 2 H₂O(l)

This reaction is said to be balanced because the amount of each type of element in the products and reactants is the same

For example :

H, left=2(in H₂SO₄)+2(in 2NaOH)=4, right=2x2(in 2H₂O) =4

nacl or sodium chloride is an ionic compound. this is because an ionic compound pertains to a compound that consists of positively and negatively charged ions. in this case, na (sodium) has a tendency to lose one electron when it reacts with with other atoms, so the resulting sodium ion contains 11 protons and 10 electrons, thus making it positively charged (na+), when chlorine reacts, it usually gains one electron to form an ion called chloride, thus making it negatively charged ( since the ions are oppositely charged, they attract.