How to balance half reaction

[marcus lin 1E]

How do we use OH- to balance out half reactions in alkaline solutions?

[Matthew Tran 1H]

The way I like to do it is to balance the reaction the same way I would if it were acidic, then adding OH- to both sides to neutralize the H+. When you do that, H+ and OH- combine to make H2O, so you've essentially only added H2O and OH-.

[Briana Lopez 4K]

In an alkaline solution OH- is used to balance the number of oxygen and hydrogen atoms on both sides. Then electrons are used to balance the charge

[Henry_Phan_4L]

You can add H2O to the side that needs more oxygens, then add double OH- along with it and add double the H2O to the other side.

[Jonathan Omens 1K]

I agree with Henry's answer except instead of adding OH- equal to double the amount of H2O initially added, find how many H one side needs to make it balanced and and add twice that amount of H2O to that side and that amount of OH- to the other side.
Also don't forget to balance all the other reactants and products before you get to this step.

[Anita Wong 1H]

what i do is add the h2o to balance out the Os, then add H to balance H, then for the amount of H you add, add the same amount of OH to each side. The oh and h should combine to form h2o with can be added to/subtracted. just simplify from there!