Rabedeaux and Cook 1

Will Rabedeaux and Brianne Cook

Balancing Chemical Equations (Rough Draft)
11/21/13

When balancing a chemical equation, elements on one side of the equation must equal the
same number of elements on the other in accordance with law of conservation of matter (Anton
and Rorres 79). Several methods can be utilized in order to balance chemical equations. First,
balancing by observation is a relatively easy and frequently used method for solving simple
equations. However, when reactions become more complicated by factors such as many
reactants and products orbalancing [of] both mass and charge simultaneously, this method
becomes less practical (Thorne 304). For chemical equations with only one solution, we can set
up a system to solve for the coefficients, such as in the acid-base reaction below.
x1HA + x2OH-

x3H2O + x4A-

Set up equations so the number of elements on each side is equal to each other, and then
solve so one side is set equal to zero.
H: x1 + x2 = 2x3

x1 + x2 - 2x3 = 0

A: x1 = x4

x1 - x4 = 0

O: x2 = x3

x2 - x3 = 0
1 1 -2 0 0
1 0 0 -1 0

R2 R1

0 1 -1 0 0
1 1 -2 0 0

R1 + R 2

0 -1 2 -1 0

-R2

0 1 -1 0 0

R3 + R 2

1 0 0 -1 0
0 1 -2 1 0
0 0 1 -1 0
A balanced equation will remain balanced when multiplied by any constant, thus an
infinite amount of solutions is possible as represent by x4 = t. In order to get the lowest possible

Rabedeaux and Cook 2

whole number, set t equal to a scalar that will provide the smallest whole number ratio. In this
case, we set t = 1.
Homogeneous
Particular
Solution
Solution
x4 = t
x4 = 1
x3 = t
x3 = 1
x2 = t
x2 = 1
x1 = t

x1 = 1

This technique of setting up a system of equations, putting them into a matrix and solving
for the x (unknown) vector is the basic idea for balancing a chemical equation. It is also possible
to put these molecules into a vector format as well using the following general set up:
Molecule1 = (n(Element1), n(Element2) n(Elementn))
From there, we can use the original formula in order to set up an equation using vectors.
For example:
x1C6H6O + x2O2

x3CO2 + x4H2O

may be rewritten as,

x1( 6, 6, 1) + x2( 0, 0, 2) = x3( 1, 0, 2) + x4( 0, 2, 1)
where n is the subscript to a particular element in the compound.
Molecule1 = ( nC, nH, nO)
Next, the equation should be set to equal zero to solve for the coefficients. After that,
distribute the coefficients and change the zero on the right side of the equation into the zero
vector in order to solve the equation as a vector system as shown below.
( 6x1, 6x1, x1) + ( 0, 0, 2x2) (x3, 0, 2 x3) ( 0, 2 x4, x4) = ( 0, 0, 0)
By subtracting from either side of the original equation, the same results can be obtained
by multiplying by a negative number. As long as the vectors on one side of the chemical equation
are negative, the sum of those vectors will equal zero. Now that all the vectors are set up, the
equations of each dimension can be pulled out and put into matrix form after factoring out an x
vector consisting of the coefficients.

6 0 -1 0
6 0 0 -2

0
x1
=
0
x2
x3
x4

Rabedeaux and Cook 3

1 2 -2 -1

Inside the red ovals, the molecule vectors are transposed and put into matrix form. From
here we can use row echelon form in order to solve for the coefficients.
6 0 -1 0 0

R1/6

6 0 0 -2 0

R2 R1

1 2 -2 -1 0

R3 R1/6

1 0 -1/6 0 0
0 0 1 -2 0
R3/2

0 2 -11/6 -1 0
Switch R2 and R3
1 0 -1/6

0 1 -11/12 -1/2 0
0 0

-2

Now that the matrix is in row echelon form, x4 must equal kt, where k is the least
common multiple of the denominators of the solutions. By multiplying by k, we will eliminate
any fractional numbers from our solutions, which is necessary because a balanced chemical
equation cannot contain a fraction of a molecule. According to this process, t should be equal
to 3 to keep the balanced equation at its lowest possible whole numbers. In this sense, t is the
constant you multiply the coefficients of the chemical equation by to get the infinite number of
balanced equations.
General Solution

Particular Solution

t=k

k=3

x4 = k

x4 = 3

x3 = 2k

x3 = 6

x2 = 7k/3

x2 = 7

x1 = k/3

x1 = 1

Generalizing these steps, we can balance any chemical equation by transposing the
vectors and placing them into a matrix, where either the vectors on the left or right side of the

Rabedeaux and Cook 4

chemical equation must be multiplied by a negative scalar. Then, solve for the homogeneous
solution using row echelon form and set t equal to the lowest common denominator. Complete
the process of balancing the chemical equation by plugging the values of the particular solution,
the coefficients back into the chemical equation. Check your solution.
When the complexity of reaction increases further, another method, called the matrix null
space approach, could be used. In this method, a linear combination of two or more chemical
equations is used to compose a net reaction. These types of reactions are multi-step processes
which require attention to multiple factors, including charge and mass (Thorne 305-307).
The use of matrices in balancing chemical equations allows us to find all possible values
for balancing the equations using only one system.

Literature Cited
Anton, Howard and Chris Rorres. Elementary Linear Algebra with Applications. John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 2010. Print.
Thorne, Lawrence. "An Innovative Approach to Balancing Chemical-Reaction Equations: A
Simplified Matrix-Inversion Technique for Determining The Matrix Null Space" The Chemical
Educator. 15. (2010): 304-308. Web.