Question

Write a balanced equation for burning of natural gas.

Answer 1

Hint :Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture which is mainly considered as methane but commonly includes higher alkanes in different amounts. It sometimes consists of a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
Methane is an organic compound whose chemical formula is $ C{H_4} $ . It is the simplest alkane and main constituent of natural gas. Naturally occurring methane is found below the ground and is formed by geological and biological processes. When methane reaches the atmosphere and surface, it is called atmospheric methane.
On burning of natural gas i.e., combustion of methane leads to oxidation reaction and formation of carbon dioxide takes place along with the removal of water. The combustion reaction of methane is carried out even with an insufficient supply of oxygen. The reaction is as follows:
 $ C{H_4} + {O_2} \to C{O_2} + {H_2}O $
But the reaction is unbalanced. To balance the above, the following steps are need to be followed:
Step-1: Listing the number of atoms of each element in the product as well as reactants.

Elements	Reactant	Product	Balanced
C	1	1	Yes
H	4	2	No
O	2	3	No

Step-2: As there are four atoms of hydrogen in reactant while two atoms in product. So, we need to add 2 as a coefficient to water molecules in order to balance the reaction. The reaction will be as follows:
 $ C{H_4} + {O_2} \to C{O_2} + 2{H_2}O $
Step-3: Listing the number of atoms of each element in the product as well as reactants for the reaction obtained in step-2.

Elements	Reactant	Product	Balanced
C	1	1	Yes
H	4	4	Yes
O	2	4	No

Step-4: As there are four atoms of oxygen in the product while two atoms are reactant. So, we need to add 2 as a coefficient to the oxygen molecule in order to balance the reaction. The reaction will be as follows:
 $ C{H_4} + 2{O_2} \to C{O_2} + 2{H_2}O $
Step-5: Listing the number of atoms of each element in the product as well as reactants for the reaction obtained in step-4.

Elements	Reactant	Product	Balanced
C	1	1	Yes
H	4	4	Yes
O	2	4	Yes

Therefore, the balanced equation for burning of natural gas is $ C{H_4} + 2{O_2} \to C{O_2} + 2{H_2}O $ .

Note :
It is important to note that while balancing a chemical reaction which consists of hydrogen and oxygen atoms and neither of them is diatomic, then both hydrogen and oxygen atoms must be balanced at last. Also, the combustion of methane is a highly exothermic process because heat is released in high amounts when natural gas is burned.