Structure Ī chemical equation (see an example below) consists of a list of reactants (the starting substances) on the left-hand side, an arrow symbol, and a list of products (substances formed in the chemical reaction) on the right-hand side.
The first chemical equation was diagrammed by Jean Beguin in 1615. The coefficients next to the symbols and formulas of entities are the absolute values of the stoichiometric numbers. The chemical formulas may be symbolic, structural (pictorial diagrams), or intermixed. The reactant entities are given on the left-hand side and the product entities are on the right-hand side with a plus sign between the entities in both the reactants and the products, and an arrow that points towards the products to show the direction of the reaction.
( October 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī chemical equation is the symbolic representation of a chemical reaction in the form of symbols and chemical formulas. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.
