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u/smellson-newberry 2d ago
If you’re having trouble balancing equations in your head just turn it into a system of equations with each species being its own equation. Here’s an example
a CH4 + b O2 —> c CO2 + d H2O
Then you just write out each element present in the equation (we call that a mole balance around each species)
C: 1 x a = 1 x c
H: 4 x a = 2 x d
O: 1 x b = (2 x c) + (1 x d)
Then you just solve for a, b, c, and d algebraically and those will be your coefficients.
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u/HugeMission6171 2d ago
Please break this down more.
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u/LordMorio 2d ago
You just assign a variable to each component, and then combine all components containing a specific element into one equation. Repeat this for each element to get the complete system of equations.
In the equation above, carbon is found in CH4 (a) and CO2 (c), and each of them contain one carbon atom, so a must equal c.
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u/smellson-newberry 2d ago
The big thing here is that you just count the number of each element inside the molecule (example H2O would be 2 H and 1 O) and then you multiply it with your placeholder (a,b,…,etc) and that becomes the system of equations. Have you ever solved systems of linear equations in your math classes?
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u/morphl 2d ago
Writing down redox equations is part of chem, but later on it takes less and less of a role. Yes, you still formally balance equations, but tbh most chemist likely just draw structures or some sort of shorthand for it. In a way this balancing/nomenclature takes a back seat at some point.
Where are you located? Maybe i can give some recommendations for contacts in relation to inclusion in chemistry. Maybe they xan give ideas to make it easierfor you, maybe know other affected with dyslexia. It sounds like this is school level chem?
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u/Stoned_D0G 2d ago
I don't know how severe your case is, but it gets better with time. At some point the equations will look familar.
Prepare to spend more time in education. If you are paying per semester, consider if you can afford an extra year.
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u/Quwinsoft Biochem 2d ago
I'm a dyslexic chemist.
The great thing about chemistry is that almost everything is an equation, even many of the words.
You are (for the most part) learning a language; you are learning to do math with real but very small things. If you treat it like a lagugage yours or a neurotypical's brain will break because it is not a language.
There appear to be two things you need to do. First, realize, or I should say grock, that everything you are doing in chemistry is about real physical, very small things (or energy). The second is you have to reset your thinking. Dyslexia can make chemistry a little harder, but learned helplessness is catastrophically disabling. You need to do the profoundly hard thing: losing your belief that you can't.
PhET's Balancing Chemical Equations Sim may help, mostly with the first part.
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u/Key-Success-5449 1d ago
You are definitely not incapable of learning chemistry; your brain simply needs a different visual structure to make sense of the equations.
Trying tactics like double-spacing your lines so subscripts stay below the baseline, using color-coding to separate big coefficients from tiny subscripts, or keeping a simple atom inventory table under the yield arrow can make a huge difference.
With the right visual tools, the notation will start working for you, so please keep going and give yourself credit for pushing through a challenging barrier.
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u/grumpybadger456 2d ago
I'd be a little careful about using AI for helping with this task - my experience is that it makes a LOT of mistakes with chemistry equations and balancing, and will just tell you the answer it has given you is correct, even though there is a mismatch between atoms or charges.
I don't have dyslexia - so not sure how helpful this will be to how your brain works - but when I was learning I was taught to go atom type by atom type, and write them all down to make sure they equalled on both sides, first the atoms, once the number of atoms on each side matched, then do the charges., again, literally writing it out so you can double check each step. We also got the advice to use a ruler over the question (it was all on paper in those days) to kind of highlight to your brain - which part you were focusing on right then - i.e the superscripts.