Combustion Reactions

[Elizabeth Bowen 1J]

I know that we have to know how to write out combustion reactions on our own for the exam, so I was wondering if anyone could explain how to do that?

[205291012]

A combustion reaction will have the form:

CnHm + (n + m/4) O2 --> nCO2 + m/2 H2O + Heat

so it will be a hydrocarbon + oxygen gas ---> carbon dioxide + water + heat

[Samuel G Rivera - Discussion 4I]

I believe that when you are balancing a combustion equation you usually want to have a 1 for the coefficient of the hydrocarbon, or the thing you're burning, even if it means that the O2 has a coefficient that's not a whole number, such as 1/2.

[Cooper Baddley 1F]

A combustion reaction always consist of the hydrocarbon plus O2 equaling CO2 plus H20 and in some cases nitrogen gas as well if it was present in the hydrocarbon

[Amanda Mei 1B]

A combustion reaction involves a hydrocarbon (compounds that contains only carbon and hydrogen) burning in (reacting with) diatomic oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water. You would balance the O₂ last, and you might need to use a fractional coefficient before multiplying all the coefficients by two.