Balancing redox equations

Discussion in 'Chemistry' started by Absane, Feb 21, 2007.

  1. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

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    How come I cannot find ONE source on balancing redox equations using matrices? I had to figure out how to do it on my own because I could never memorize the stupid rules for balancing these equations given in other resources.

    If anyone is curious, I could post how to balance redox equations with matrices.
     
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  3. draqon Banned Banned

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    I am interested.

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  5. John Connellan Valued Senior Member

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  7. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

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    No, that's not it. I am talking about a Re/Dox equation.

    Example:

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    What you have to do is not only balance the number of atoms present, but you got to balance the ionic charges, too.

    When I get to it, I'll type out the steps to solve these with matrices.
     
  8. Positron Agony: Not all pain is gain Registered Senior Member

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    Oh God I ahte those reactions. There are just so many and so many people don't like messing with them moret han is necessary that you can't find anything on it, save a textbook.....Or a Chemical engineer.
     
  9. swivel Sci-Fi Author Valued Senior Member

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    That's funny, I figured this out in highschool, it took me seconds to do redox reactions that the other kids were laboring over. I showed the process to my chemistry teacher who dismissed it, saying that it wasn't reliable. He had never seen redox reactions done that way, and just assumed that if there was an easier way, he would know about it. I eventually persuaded him and got some blackboard time to show the rest of the class how to do it.

    This is a very clear memory for me, but I haven't done any redox calculations since, and can't remember the first thing about how I was saving time. It is a very fond memory, though.
     
  10. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

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    8,989
    Your teacher dismissed it? Um... let's see.. what must happen to balance the redox equations?

    1) Balance the atoms
    2) Balance the charges.

    Matrix algebra can do this quickly. I'm able to balance redox equations in 10 seconds versus the whole class taking 2 minutes to do some sort of half-equation bullshit.

    Anyway, I have half of my post on how to do this PMed to myself. I think I'll post it and I hope everyone can figure it out from there.
     
  11. swivel Sci-Fi Author Valued Senior Member

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    He was an older guy, was just resistant to seeing something new.

    I think it was the speed of the calculations that bothered him. He knew that redox calculations took minutes, not seconds. But, after doing several of them and getting the right answer each time, he threw his hands up and had me teach it to the class.

    I didn't even know matrix algebra at the time. I just wrote the numbers down in two rows, and performed some simple addition and subtraction, and got the right numbers every time. I remember being able to do it in my head, it was so simple.
     
  12. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

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    8,989
    Can you try to remember how do you did it? I'd love to see this. Maybe it's faster than my method.
     

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