You're going to need to put a coefficient in front of your C8H18 because you'll need to double your coefficient on the H2O to get an even number, otherwise you can't balance it. The final balanced equation is 2C8H18 + 25O2 ---> 16CO2 + 18H2O
The problem is that as written your reaction requires an odd number of oxygen atoms, and oxygen atoms only come in pairs (O2). The solution is to double the amount of C8H18 and now you need an even number of oxygen atoms.
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You're going to need to put a coefficient in front of your C8H18 because you'll need to double your coefficient on the H2O to get an even number, otherwise you can't balance it. The final balanced equation is 2C8H18 + 25O2 ---> 16CO2 + 18H2O
The problem is that as written your reaction requires an odd number of oxygen atoms, and oxygen atoms only come in pairs (O2). The solution is to double the amount of C8H18 and now you need an even number of oxygen atoms.
2C8H18 + 25O2 ----> 16 CO2 + 18 H2O
They are saying that your original equation should be: C8H18 + 12 1/2 O2 --> 8CO2 + 9H2O
Now there are 25 O atoms on both sides, but we don't like fractional coefficients. So you double everything.
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hmm,,, that's stough
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