Analía Bellizzi – Chemistry Classes

Ronald Reagan Senior High School

CHEMICAL REACTIONS

CHEMICAL REACTIONS

Chemical Reactions:

A chemical reaction is a process in which one or more substances, the reactants, are converted to one or more different substances, the products.

Substances can be elements or compounds.

A chemical reaction is represented by a chemical equation, as follows:

REACTANTS → PRODUCTS

It reads:                  REACTANTS   YIELD   PRODUCTS

  • During a chemical reaction the atoms present in the reactants (also called reagents) break some bonds and form new ones  to create different substances called products.
  • No elements are destroyed or created, so the atoms on the left of the equation (reactants) must match the elements on the right of the equation (products).
  • This “matching” on the left and the right of the equation is attained by balancing the chemical reaction. 

Representation of a chemical equation

Chemical Equation