Al + HCl = AlCl + H2, step by step?

Question

how do u get 6 HCl ?

explain step by step , of balancing starting with the H2 till the end

long explansion is ok but try to talk out of scientific terms :)

Answer 1

First of all identify the charges on each of the ions:

Al 3+

H +

Cl -

then Al(3+) + H(+)Cl(-) ---> Al(3+)Cl(-) + H2

You can see that the charges on AlCl don't balance, it needs to be AlCl3 for it to be right... you then need to have 3 Cl's on the other side

Hence you have:

Al + 3HCl ---> AlCl3 + H2

...but then the H's don't balance out, with 3 on the left hand side and 2 on the right hand side.

so to correct that,

2Al + 6HCl ---> 2AlCl3 + 3H2

now the equation is balanced: there are 2 Al's, 6 H's and 6 Cl's on each side, and the charges also balance.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Your equation is incorrect.

Al + HCl do NOT produce AlCl + H2.

The correct equation is:

Al + HCl→AlCl3 + H2

One hydrogen on the left, two hydrogen on the right so you need to put a 2 in front of HCl to get 2 hydrogens on both sides.

Al + 2HCl→AlCl3 + H2

Now we have 1 Aluminum on both sides and 2 hydrogens on both sides but we have 2 chlorines on the left and 3 chlorines on the right. What do you multiply 3 by to get 2? In other words 3x=2, what is x? x=2/3 so pur 2/3 in front of AlCl3

Al + 2HCl→2/3AlCl3 + H2

Now we must get rid of the fraction so we multiply the whole equation by 3. Remember that 3 times 2/3= 2 because the 3's cancel out.

3(Al + 2HCl→2/3AlCl3 + H2) gives us 3Al + 6HCl→2AlCl3 + 3H2

Now we have 6 hydrogens on both sides, 6 chlorines on both sides  but we have 3 aluminums on the left and 2 aluminums on the right. Notice that if we change the 3 in front of Al to a 2 the equation is balanced? And that's it.

2Al + 6HCl→2AlCl3 + 3H2