Balancing Chemical Reactions: The even/odd rule

Students will spend an hour learning various strategies for balancing chemical reactions. This course is appropriate for students with experience balancing chemical reactions, as well as those new to the topic. We will discuss the general even/odd rule for balancing equations, a strategy that always works. This topic is not taught in textbooks and is not widely discussed on the internet.

After a brief introduction to counting atoms, we will spend most of the hour-long class in the hands-on practice of balancing equations. I have easy/introductory, medium, and difficult problem sets. All students will learn the introductory-level problems, and learner progress will be evaluated on his/her ability to apply the concepts to the more difficult problems.

There are no homework or prerequisites. Students should understand basic addition and multiplication for small integers before taking this class.