Using Matrices to Balance Chemical Reactions and Modeling the Implications of a Balanced Reaction

• Main Author: Emilee Barrett
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of South Florida 2019-08-01
• Series: Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two
• Subjects: balanced chemical equations; matrix operations; systems of linear diophantine equations; atmospheric pollution
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ujmm/vol10/iss1/5/

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 environment such as atmospheric pollution due to certain everyday chemical reactions.