A chemical equation is balanced if the number of each type of atom on the left side is equal to the number of each type on the right side. Is this reaction balanced?

See explanation below

Explanation:

You are not putting the equation to balance. I found a question which is pretty the same as this one and put the following reaction:

H₂ + O₂ > H₂O

If you have a different equation please post again the question.

According to the above reaction, we can say that it's not balanced.

The reason is because in the reactants we have 2 atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, but in the products, we only have 1 atom of oxygen. so both sides do not have the same number of atoms.

To balance, we need to put a number in the product or reactant as coefficient in order to balance the whole reaction. In this case, as Oxygen is unbalanced, I will put a 2 in the products to balance the oxygen:

H₂ + O₂ > 2H₂O

But putting this 2 will unbalance the hydrogen in the products. We now have 4 atoms of hydrogen. What should we do now?, yes, we put a 2 in the reactants to balance the hydrogen, and then, the whole equation is balanced.

2H₂ + O₂ > 2H₂O

Hope this helps

b. No, because there are two oxygen atoms on the reactants side of the equation, and only one on the products side of the equation.

Explanation:

Hello,

In this case, given the reaction:

Considering the law of mass action which demands us to equal the number of atoms at each side of the chemical equation, we notice that there are two hydrogen atoms at both the left side and right side, so it is balanced. Nevertheless, we notice oxygen is not balanced since two oxygen atoms are at the left side and only one at the right side, so the option is b. No, because there are two oxygen atoms on the reactants side of the equation, and only one on the products side of the equation.

Regards.