Balance a complex reaction

Lora · Post by **Lora** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:53 pm

Hi, I need help , can anyone balance this please? It´s a pyrolisis reaction (glycerol)

C₃H₈O₃ --> CO + CO₂ + H₂ + C(solid) + CH₄ + H₂O + C₂H₄

I would also like to know a program (web, tutorial ...) to perform this, the coefficients are not whole numbers, thank you!!!!!

Zedekiah · Post by **Zedekiah** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:16 pm

This one isn't going to have a solution because there is no way of knowing exactly what products are going to form in what proportions.

In other words, there are any number of ways to balance it.

This site has a balancer to the left. Click 'online tools' and then go to the equation balancer. You can then essentially copy and paste the reaction you typed to balance it.

This one won't balance, however, because there are an infinite number of ways to balance it.

Lora · Post by **Lora** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:39 am

Thank you very much,