How can chemical equations be used to describe what happens in chemical reactions?

Answer 1

A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound.

The chemical formula identifies each constituent element by its chemical symbol and indicates the number of atoms of each element found in each discrete molecule of that compound. If a molecule contains more than one atom of a particular element, this quantity is indicated using a subscript after the chemical symbol (although 18th-century books often used superscripts) and also can be combined by more chemical elements. For example, methane, a small molecule consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, has the chemical formula CH4. The sugar molecule glucose has six carbon atoms, twelve hydrogen atoms and six oxygen atoms, so its chemical formula is C6H12O6.

Chemical formulas may be used in chemical equations to describe chemical reactions. For ionic compounds and other non-molecular substances an empirical formula may be used, in which the subscripts indicate the ratio of the elements.

The 19th-century Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius worked out this system for writing chemical formulas.

Answer 2

The alternative is to write out in words the amounts and names of each reactant and product, and would not include chemical formulas. Using symbols to represent a chemical reaction as a chemical equation makes it easier to understand and to work with a chemical reaction. Take for example the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to produce water. The word equation would be two molecules (or moles) of hydrogen gas react with one molecule (or mole) of oxygen to produce two molecules (or moles) of water. Compare that to the chemical equation, which is 2H2 + O2 --> 2H2O.

Answer 3

yes, chemical equations describe chemical reactions in terms of chemical formulas (i.e. 2C+2H-->2CH) this answer may not be right, i was dared to answer it