Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Using Matrices To Balance Chemical Reactions And Modeling The Implications Of A Balanced Reaction, Emilee Barrett

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This paper explores an alternative way to balancing equations of chemical reactions and understanding why it is necessary to use balanced equations in science. To balance a chemical equation chemists often guess the coefficients that would balance the equation and check if it works. An alternative method is to use matrices to determine the coefficients of a balanced chemical reaction through solving a system of linear Diophantine equations. After determining the coefficients, a balanced chemical reaction can be formed and used to model how the different coefficients impact the overall reaction. Then it can lead to larger applications within the …