Balancing Charges

[Max Harouni 14B 24W]

Hello everyone,

when balancing chemical equations, does anyone know if ionic charges play a part? Or in other words, do we only balance the coefficients? Also, would we have to know the charges, or would they be provided?

[Ruby Sanchez 1K]

I think it depends whether the question asks you to balance the equation by mass or by charge. In this case, I believe the charges would be provided. For example, in Copper, Cu2+

[sadie_remillard_1A]

Hi Max,
As far as I know, when balancing chemical equations, the total positive charge and total negative charge must balance one another out. If they do not balance one another out with just 1:1 ratio, then we have to have more than one cation/anion to balance the overall positive and negative charges. As for having to know the charges of elements, I am not sure what we are expected to know though a good thing to remember that group 1 on the periodic table all have 1+ charges and group 2 all have 2+ charges.