Combustion.+Demitri+and+Matt+H.

Combustion

Combustion is the burning, or oxidation, of matter to produce energy. Two substances are necessary for combustion to occur--a fuel and an oxidizer. A fuel can be anything from the wood, coal, or natural gas used to produce heat in a furnace to gasoline or hydrogen used in an internal combustion engine. An oxidizer, as its name implies, is a substance that contains oxygen. These reactions are exothermic, meaning they produce heat.

The formula for a Combustion reaction is:

CH4+O2-->CO+H2O

This is a reaction between methane and oxygen that forms carbon dioxide and water. The Balanced Equation for this reaction is:

CH4+O2--> CO+2H2O

This reaction was easy to balance;the reactant side originally had 1 Carbon, 4 Hydrogen, and 2 Oxygen. The product side has 1 Carbon, 2 Hydrogen, and 2 Oxygen. By putting a 2 in front of the water compound in the reactants, that gives that side 4 Hydrogen and 2 Oxygen.