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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 16
(2011) pp 267-271
A Comparative Study of the Material Balance Method and Oxidation Number Method in Balancing Complex Redox Equations
Ivan Dukov* and Maria Atanassova
Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, University
of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, 8 Kliment Okhridski Blvd., 1756
Sofia,
Bulgaria, idukov@abv.bg
Received July 5, 2011. Accepted September 19, 2011.
Published: 7 October 2011
Abstract. A comparative study of the material balance method and oxidation number method in balancing complex redox equations has been carried out. The material balance method based on the fundamental law of mass conservation, in its modified form, gives a possibility to balance easier and faster the wide variety of complex redox equations. It is very useful for balancing of redox equations with two degrees of freedom that can be balanced with infinite sets of non multiple stoichiometric coefficients. If the reaction mechanism is unknown, the popular oxidation number method permits to obtain only one set of stoiciometric coefficients.
Key Words: In the Classroom; general chemistry; modified material balance method; oxidation number method; redox equations; degrees of freedom of redox equation
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: idukov@abv.bg)
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