Element–reactant–product table
An Element-Reaction-Product table is used to find coefficients while balancing an equation representing a chemical reaction. Coefficients represent moles of a substance so that the amount of atoms produced is equal to the amount of atoms being reacted with. This is the common setup:
- Element: it is all the elements that are in the reaction equation. Beneath the "element" section you list them all.
- Reactant: is the numbers of each of the elements on the reactants side of the reaction equation.
- Product: is the number of each element on the product side of the reaction equation.
The layout should eventually look like this, for a balanced reaction of baking soda and vinegar (HC2H3O2 + NaHCO3 = NaC2H3O2 + H2CO3)
| Element | Number of Reactants | Number of Products |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogen | 5 | 5 |
| Carbon | 3 | 3 |
| Oxygen | 5 | 5 |
| Sodium | 1 | 1 |
From this, since the number of reactants for each element equals the number of products for each element, we can tell that each side is balanced in the equation.