__Decomposition__

Decomposition
A decomposition reaction is when a compound reacts and produces two element that were in the compound.

The generic form of this reaction is AB--->A+B

An example of this reaction is when __Potassium Chlorate is heated and decomposes into Potassium chloride and oxygen gas__. Now to put this sentence into equation form: Potassium=K Chlorate= ClO3 So the first part of the equation is KClO3--->? Now Potassium Chloride is just KCl And oxygen gas is a diatomic so it's O2 So the equation is just KClO3--->KCl+O2 but we're not finished yet! Now we have to balance it: There are 3 oxygens on the reactants side and 2 on the product side, so to balance it we add coefficients: 2KClO3--->KCl+3O2 So now we have 6 of oxygen on both sides...are we done? nope... Now we have 2 Potassium and Chlorine on the reactant side and only 1 of each on the product side. So we add coefficients to balance it out: 2KClO3--->2KCl+3O2 Now we're finished.

A picture of a decomposition reaction:



__Back to main page__