Balancing Equations Worksheet Library
Free Science Balancing Equations Worksheet Library (Answer Keys Included)
Looking for a Balancing Equations Worksheet Library, where you can download free PDF practice worksheets for science and/or chemistry students?
If so, then you’re in the right place! This page shares a free collection of printable science balancing equations worksheets that include complete answer keys. Each balancing equation worksheet can be downloaded as a printable PDF file in color or in black-and-white.
To download any of our free balancing equations worksheets, simply scroll down to the worksheet library below and click on any of the blue text links to open the PDF preview page for any given worksheet. From this page, you will have the option to save the PDF file to your device or to send it to your printer. Each worksheet contains two pages, where the practice problems are included on page one and the answer keys are included on page two.
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Balancing Equations Worksheet Library
Balancing Equations Worksheet (A)
Balancing Equations Worksheet (B)
Balancing Equations Extended Practice
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Science Balancing Equations Worksheet Review
Being able to balance a given chemical equation is an important skill that every chemistry student can learn through practice. In the case of understanding how to balance chemical equations successfully, you are directly working applying the laws of conservation and mass, which ensure that, when dealing with a given chemical reaction, that atoms are neither being created nor destroyed, which is a fundamental aspect of chemistry.
If you are having a hard time with problems on any balancing equations worksheet shared in the library above, then we highly recommend that you read through this review section and the step-by-step examples that we will cover. This quick recap will give you a better idea of how to balance chemical equations and how to correctly solve many of the problems that you will find on our balancing chemical equations worksheets.
Before we dive into any examples, let’s keep the following goal in mind whenever we have to balance a chemical equation in chemistry:
When balancing a chemical equation, the goal is to ensure that the same number of each type of atom is present on both sides of the equation.
With this goal in mind, let’s take a look at an example of how to balance a chemical equation step-by-step.
Balancing Chemical Equations Example #1
Example #1: Balance the following chemical equation:
__H₂ +__O₂ → __H₂O
For starters, the practice problems on any science balancing equations worksheet will be in the same format as the example problem above. Your task is to fill in the missing values on each blank line.
We can start by counting the atoms of each element on both sides of the → (which is akin to an equals sign when it comes to balancing chemical equations). In this example, we have:
Left-Side: 2 Hydrogen (H₂) and 2 Oxygen (O₂)
Right-Side: 2 Hydrogen (H₂) and 1 Oxygen (O)
Right now, we have 4 atoms on the left side and only 3 on the right-side, so the chemical equation is not balanced.
To balance this equation, let’ start by balancing Hydrogen. If we place a 2 in the blank space next to H2O (i.e. 2 H₂O), we now have 4 Hydrogen atoms on each side:
__H₂ +__O₂ → 2 H₂O
Next, we can balance Oxygen by placing a 2 in the blank space next to H2 (i.e. 2 H₂). Now we are left with:
2 H₂ + 1 O₂ → 2 H₂O
2H₂ + O₂ → 2H₂O
Now we have a final chemical equation, 2H₂ + O₂ → 2H2₂O, that is balanced.
This same approach can be applied to solving problems on any balancing equations worksheet chemistry, whether it be simple or complex. The graphic in Figure 01 below illustrates our step-by-step process for solving the example problem: __H₂ +__O₂ → __H₂O.
Balancing Chemical Equations Example #2
Example #2: Balance the following chemical equation:
__C₆H₁₂O₆+ __O₂ → __CO₂ + __H₂O
First, we can balance Carbon, C, by writing a 6 in front of CO₂ on the right-side (i.e. 6 CO₂), as follows:
__C₆H₁₂O₆+ __O₂ → 6 CO₂ + __H₂O
Next, we can balance Hydrogen, H, by writing a 6 in front of H₂O on the right-side (i.e. 6 H₂O), as follows:
__C₆H₁₂O₆+ __O₂ → 6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O
Finally, we can balance Oxygen, O, by writing a 6 in front of O₂ on the left-side (i.e. 6 O₂), as follows:
__C₆H₁₂O₆+ 6 O₂ → 6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O
As is, we can see that each side of the chemical equation has 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydgrogen atoms, and 18 oxygen atoms, meaning that it is balanced. So, we can wrap up this problem writing a 1 in front of C₆H₁₂O₆ as follows:
1 C₆H₁₂O₆+ 6 O₂ → 6 CO₂ + 6 H₂O
Now we have a final chemical equation, C₆H₁₂O₆+ 6 O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O, that is balanced.
The graphic in Figure 02 below illustrates how we balanced this chemical equation.