Chemical Equations for Multireaction Systems

Abstract

While the balanced chemical equations for a multireaction system are generally not unique, the minimum number of independent equations, R, is a characteristic property of the system. Deleting one nonspectator species from the system leads to a system with R reduced by one. In this way each system can be reduced to a single-reaction system and ultimately to a no-reaction system. The least number of chemical species that can be deleted to obtain a no-reaction system equals R. Every multireaction system, therefore, can be reduced to a number of single-reaction equations which can be balanced by any one of the standard techniques. Some examples are given where balancing by inspection is employed.