Balancing redox with h2o

[ursulavictorino1K]

How do you balance a redox equation using h2o, h+, and oh-?

[Jasleen Kahlon]

I was also wondering how this would be done, I've seen it done with H2O, H+, and OH- and other elements, but I don't know how it would be done with just these three...

[Long Luong 2H]

In acidic solution, you’d use H2O and H+ to balance your redox reaction, because H+ ions are present in acidic solutions. In basic solutions, you’d use H2O and -OH to balance because there’s -OH ions in basic solution. The main idea of balancing redox reactions is to use a combination of H2O and H+/-OH to balance the equation.

[CynthiaLy4F]

If the reaction is under acidic conditions, you would balance the oxygen atoms with H2O and the hydrogen atoms with H+. If the reaction is under basic conditions, you would balance the oxygen and hydrogen atoms using H2O and OH-.

[Rohit Ghosh 4F]

Yes, you can start by using H+ to balance out the electrons and negative charges on one side. If it is basic, then you have to add OH- to neutralize the H+, and make sure that the charges and atoms on one side of the reaction match the charge and atoms on the other side.

[Jacob Motawakel]

you use h2o to balance the oxygens in your half reactions, then depending whether it is in an acidic or basic solution, you use h+ and oh- to balance the hydrogens in your half reactions. h+ for acidic solution, and oh- for basic solution.

[Jialun Chen 4F]

I'm quite sure that you use H+ and H2O for acidic reactions but OH- and H2O for basic reactions.

[John Liang 2I]

With acidic conditions, use h2o to balance oxygens, and then H+ to balance the H of the h2o you just used.
With basic conditions, use h2o to balance oxygens like last time, then use another h2o to balance the hydrogens of the h2o, and finally OH- to balance the "another" h2o. hope this helps

[ursulavictorino1K]

So adding h2o, h3o+, and oh- balances the charge and elements or do you then have to add certain elements? Are you limited to just those 3?

[Jiyoon_Hwang_2I]

So adding h2o, h3o+, and oh- balances the charge and elements or do you then have to add certain elements? Are you limited to just those 3?

If elements other than H and O need to be balanced in the equation you should use coefficients, but when you balance a redox reaction the only things being added directly to the reaction are H2O, H+, OH-