Question

samuel has been assigned a titration between lithium hydroxide and sulfuric acid. what is the balanced chemical equation for the reaction? balance the equation. what is the coefficient for water in the balanced molecular equation? lioh + h₂so₄ → __li₂so₄ + ?h₂o

Explanation:

Step1: Balance Lithium (Li) atoms

On the left, we have 1 Li in \( \text{LiOH} \), and on the right, we have 2 Li in \( \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 \). So we put a coefficient of 2 in front of \( \text{LiOH} \). Now the equation is: \( 2\text{LiOH} + \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4
ightarrow \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 + \text{H}_2\text{O} \)

Step2: Balance Sulfur (S) atoms

Sulfur is already balanced (1 S on left in \( \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4 \) and 1 S on right in \( \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 \)).

Step3: Balance Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O) atoms

Now, on the left, from \( 2\text{LiOH} \) we have 2 H and 2 O, and from \( \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4 \) we have 2 H and 4 O, so total H is \( 2 + 2 = 4 \) and total O is \( 2 + 4 = 6 \). On the right, \( \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 \) has 4 O, so \( \text{H}_2\text{O} \) needs to account for the remaining H and O. Let's look at H: we have 4 H on left, so \( \text{H}_2\text{O} \) should have 4 H, which means 2 \( \text{H}_2\text{O} \) (since each \( \text{H}_2\text{O} \) has 2 H). Let's check O: from \( 2\text{LiOH} \) (2 O) + \( \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4 \) (4 O) = 6 O. On the right, \( \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 \) (4 O) + 2 \( \text{H}_2\text{O} \) (2 O) = 6 O. So the balanced equation is: \( 2\text{LiOH} + \text{H}_2\text{SO}_4
ightarrow \text{Li}_2\text{SO}_4 + 2\text{H}_2\text{O} \)

Answer:

2