UNDERSTANDING COEFFICIENT AND SUBSCRIPT IN A CHEMICAL EQUATION
UNDERSTANDING COEFFICIENT AND SUBSCRIPT IN A CHEMICAL EQUATION
Atom, the basic building block of all matter and chemistry. Atoms can combine with other atoms to form molecules but cannot be divided into smaller parts by ordinary chemical processes. UNDERSTANDING COEFFICIENT AND SUBSCRIPT
In a chemical equation:
- Coefficient: The coefficient is the number placed in front of a chemical formula to indicate how many molecules or moles of that substance are involved in the reaction. For example, in 2H2 + O2→ 2H2O, the coefficient “2” before H2 and indicates that two molecules of hydrogen and two molecules of water are involved in the reaction.
- Subscript: The subscript is the small number written after an element’s symbol within a chemical formula, indicating the number of atoms of that element in a single molecule of the substance. For example, in , the subscript “2” in shows that there are two hydrogen atoms in one molecule of water. If no subscript is present, it means there is only one atom of that element.
Co-efficient apply to the whole molecule, while subscripts apply only to the individual elements in the molecule.
