{"id":231764,"date":"2025-06-11T11:21:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=231764"},"modified":"2025-06-11T11:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:21:51","slug":"write-a-balanced-chemical-equation-for-the-combustion-of-methane-in-oxygen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/11\/write-a-balanced-chemical-equation-for-the-combustion-of-methane-in-oxygen\/","title":{"rendered":"Write a balanced chemical equation for the combustion of methane in oxygen."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Write a balanced chemical equation for the combustion of methane in oxygen. Be sure to include states of matter in your balanced equation. 2CH
(g) + 4O
(g)
2CO
(g) + 4H
O(g)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Correct Balanced Chemical Equation:<\/strong> CH4(g)+2O2(g)\u2192CO2(g)+2H2O(g)\\text{CH}_4 (g) + 2 \\text{O}_2 (g) \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 (g) + 2 \\text{H}_2\\text{O} (g)CH4\u200b(g)+2O2\u200b(g)\u2192CO2\u200b(g)+2H2\u200bO(g)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combustion reactions are chemical reactions where a substance reacts with oxygen to produce heat and light. In the case of methane (CH\u2084), which is a simple hydrocarbon and the main component of natural gas, combustion occurs when it reacts with oxygen (O\u2082) from the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general form of a hydrocarbon combustion reaction is: Hydrocarbon+O2\u2192CO2+H2O\\text{Hydrocarbon} + \\text{O}_2 \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 + \\text{H}_2\\text{O}Hydrocarbon+O2\u200b\u2192CO2\u200b+H2\u200bO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For methane, the unbalanced equation starts as: CH4(g)+O2(g)\u2192CO2(g)+H2O(g)\\text{CH}_4 (g) + \\text{O}_2 (g) \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 (g) + \\text{H}_2\\text{O} (g)CH4\u200b(g)+O2\u200b(g)\u2192CO2\u200b(g)+H2\u200bO(g)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now balance the equation by following these steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Balance Carbon (C):<\/strong>
    There is one carbon atom in CH\u2084 and one carbon atom in CO\u2082. Carbon is balanced.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Balance Hydrogen (H):<\/strong>
    There are four hydrogen atoms in CH\u2084 and only two in one molecule of H\u2082O. To balance hydrogen, we place a coefficient of 2 in front of H\u2082O:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    CH4(g)+O2(g)\u2192CO2(g)+2H2O(g)\\text{CH}_4 (g) + \\text{O}_2 (g) \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 (g) + 2 \\text{H}_2\\text{O} (g)CH4\u200b(g)+O2\u200b(g)\u2192CO2\u200b(g)+2H2\u200bO(g)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Balance Oxygen (O):<\/strong>
      On the right-hand side, there are two oxygen atoms from CO\u2082 and two from 2 H\u2082O (total 4 oxygen atoms). To get 4 oxygen atoms on the left-hand side, we place a coefficient of 2 in front of O\u2082:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      CH4(g)+2O2(g)\u2192CO2(g)+2H2O(g)\\text{CH}_4 (g) + 2 \\text{O}_2 (g) \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 (g) + 2 \\text{H}_2\\text{O} (g)CH4\u200b(g)+2O2\u200b(g)\u2192CO2\u200b(g)+2H2\u200bO(g)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Now the equation is balanced with 1 carbon, 4 hydrogen, and 4 oxygen atoms on both sides. The states of matter indicate that methane, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor are all in the gaseous state during combustion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This balanced equation shows that burning one mole of methane requires two moles of oxygen and produces one mole of carbon dioxide and two moles of water vapor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Write a balanced chemical equation for the combustion of methane in oxygen. Be sure to include states of matter in your balanced equation. 2CH(g) + 4O(g)2CO(g) + 4HO(g) The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct Balanced Chemical Equation: CH4(g)+2O2(g)\u2192CO2(g)+2H2O(g)\\text{CH}_4 (g) + 2 \\text{O}_2 (g) \\rightarrow \\text{CO}_2 (g) + 2 \\text{H}_2\\text{O} (g)CH4\u200b(g)+2O2\u200b(g)\u2192CO2\u200b(g)+2H2\u200bO(g) Explanation: Combustion reactions are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}