H3 Image [ENDORSED]

[sharonvivianv]

The first box below represents the reactants for a chemical reaction and the second box the products that form if all the reactant molecules shown react. Use the following key to write a balanced equation for the reaction. Assume that if two atoms are touching, they are bonded together. Key: ● oxygen; ~ hydrogen; ◆ silicon.

How exactly am I supposed to translate this into a chemical equation?

[jessicasam]

the dark diamond is Si
the dark circle is O
and the open circle is H

The first box (the reactants):
1 dark diamond is connected to 4 open circles (SiH4). This is repeated 2 times (2SiH4).
1 dark circle is connected to 2 open circles (H2O). This is repeated 4 times (4H2O).

The second box (the products):
1 dark diamond is connected to 2 dark circles (SiO2). This is repeated 2 times (2SiO2).
2 open circles are connected (H2). This is repeated 8 times (8H2O).

All together the equation is:

2SiH4 + 4H2O --> 2SiO2 + 8H2

[RubyLake1F]

Each separate/distinct cluster of shapes is a molecule, so use the key to count up the number of each type of shape (type of atoms) that make up each molecule. Then count the number of each type of molecule and use it to write the equation for the reaction.

So for example in the box on the left (the reactants), there are two distinct combinations of shapes so there are two types of molecules reacting. One has four blank circles (hydrogen) and one filled in diamond (silicon) so the molecule is SiH4. There are two of these molecules. The other has two blank circles (hydrogen) and one filled in circle (oxygen), so the molecule is H2O. There are four of these water molecules.

So the reactants are
2SiH4 + 4H20 --> ???

And use the same technique for the products.

Hope that helps