What is the difference between reactants and products?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer:
Reactants are substances that start a chemical reaction, while products are substances that are formed as a result of that reaction.
Explanation:
In a chemical reaction, the terms “reactants” and “products” describe the substances involved before and after the reaction takes place. Reactants are the original materials that participate in the reaction. These substances undergo a chemical change when they interact under specific conditions such as temperature, pressure, or the presence of a catalyst. The molecules of the reactants break their chemical bonds and form new bonds to create different substances.
The new substances formed are called products. These are the result of the chemical transformation that takes place during the reaction. The properties of the products are usually different from those of the reactants, which is a clear sign that a chemical change has occurred. For example, in the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to form water, hydrogen and oxygen are the reactants, and water is the product.
A simple way to visualize this process is by using a chemical equation. For instance:
H₂ + O₂ → H₂O
In this equation, H₂ and O₂ are the reactants and H₂O is the product.
The arrow in the equation represents the direction of the reaction, showing that the reactants are transformed into the products. It is important to note that the total number of atoms of each element remains the same before and after the reaction due to the law of conservation of mass.
Understanding the difference between reactants and products helps students grasp how substances change during chemical reactions, and it lays the foundation for studying more complex chemical processes in both laboratory and real-world settings.
