Help with balancing chemical equations

[mummyeme]

Hello,
My daughter is learning to balance chemical equations and finding it tricky. Please do you know of any recommended sites or resources to help?
I've watched a lot of clips online but wondering if there are some I'm missing or whether there's a straightforward method to relay to her.
Thanks in advance.

Would BBC bitesize have anything that would help?

Thanks, I've checked on there but the explanation was quite brief. She's been given a sheet of 25 (which are quite involved) to do in class then the teacher gave out the answers but without much time or explanation for those who couldn't answer understand. She has asked for help but her teacher isn't explaining it in a way she can follow.

There's some good resources on YouTube. Here's one that might be useful.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Balance-Chemical-Equations%3famp=1 - does the first method in this help?

I'm a chemistry teacher. If you post one of the equations I can try and explain it and it might help her with the next set. They are tricky to start off with

I have A level chemistry, but the memory brings me out in a cold sweat..

It is all according to how many 'bonds' each element has.

Hydrogen has 1
Oxygen has 2
Thus for every one Oxygen, there must be two Hydrogen's to ensure there are no bonds left over.
Thus H2O.

memory is very poor after 25 years

Good luck OP..

This explains the basics, Open University

But how old is she / what level study is she doing?

I always teach it as if the atoms are on a see-saw, so there has to be the same number on each side.
I also say that we are scientists and not magicians and atoms cannot appear or disappear. I'd be happy to work through an example if you give me one

Thanks everyone. She's year 9 and they've started GCSE Science this year (her school are now doing GCSE Science, Maths and English over 3 years).
I'll post one of the equations in the morning, thank you

www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/chemical-reactions-stoichiome#balancing-chemical-equations

Hi, these are some of the ones we're stumped on

Thanks star danced, she had got the hang of it (but is using a really long method) and then we got to these and we're stumped again.

Thanks to everyone else as well

For the first i get the following by putting the numbers of each element underneath and then balancing them:

Can you have a half in the answer I wonder as for the second get this: ( I might be totally wrong though)

Not usually halfs no pixie, you would double everything to get to all integers.

Op you need to count how many of each element you have each side of the reaction.

So for you first one you have 2 oxygen atoms before (o2) and 3 after. That's not possible as you don't create new atoms in a chemical reaction.

If you make it 3O2 you have 6 oxygen atoms before. Then you can put 2 in front of the oxygen containing compound after. Making 6 oxygen atoms on each side.

You then need to make sure you have the right amount of carbon and hydrogen on each side.

Ok so multiplying all by 2 gives:

Is this the last one?

Looks right to me demented pixie

At which point does she get stuck?
Is she struggling to remember the method from the start or does she get confused part way through once the numbers start to change?

Those are the answers I got, too, @dementedpixie

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. I think we've got it now phew