Reading Chemical Equations In the following equation for photosynthesis Numbers and letters written together are molecules
Reading Chemical Equations: In the following equation for photosynthesis : 6CO2+12 H2O + Light → C6H12O6 +6 O2 +6H2O Numbers and letters written together are molecules (6CO2). The larger script numbers to the left of a molecule are the number of molecules. CO2 is a molecule made of C for carbon and O for oxygen. There are 6 of these molecules. H2O is a molecule made of H for hydrogen and O for oxygen. There are 12 of these molecules. The smaller number is the number of atoms of the element to the left of it. No number means one atom. For CO2 there is one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen. For H2O, there is one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. A molecule can be made of only one type of atom. In its stable molecular form, oxygen exists as two atoms and is written O2. to distinguish it from an atom of oxygen O, or ozone, a molecule of three oxygen atoms, O3. Even though each of these is all oxygen, combining atoms of the same element may give very different properties to the molecule. In cellular respiration, one can use this information to track the transfer of hydrogen from one side of the equation to the other. |
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