impossible equation balancing

[mollykins]

We got a couple of pages of chemistry homework questions and this is the only one that is impossible.

balance the following; Fe(NO3)3 = Fe2O3 + NO2 + O2

I can get the iron and nitrogen to balance out but it leaves way to many oxygens on the right hand side.

[lumination]

O_O
they ask you these things? when would you need this in the future...unless you become a scientist of course

[ChuckFickens]

4 Fe(NO3)3 = 2 Fe2O3 + 12 NO2 + 3 O2

[mollykins]

This is a-level chemistry and i've just worked out why i couldn't do it.

When i was adding a number before the Fe(NO3)3 I was multiplying it by the end 3 aswell but you only do that with the N and O.

[ChuckFickens]

No problem, no need for thanks..

Oh, you didn't.

[mike11111]

Flogging a dead horse there, Chuck.

[factor-fiction]

Hi chuck, I think molly was typing her last reply at the same time as you were posting yours and as she had solved it she may well not have gone back to the thread to see your answer and say thanks.

[ChuckFickens]

I was being a bit sarcastic, I realise that molly posted pretty much exactly the same time as me :)

I still had to wind my brain back some 20years (ouch, is it really that long!) to my A level chemistry (though balancing equations is one of the easier things to do, probably why I remember it)

[ABerrant]

Probably one of the easier things to do because balancing chemical equations was 'O' Level, primarily because it is no more than simple algebra. The exercise still qualifies as GCSE level.

[mollykins]

Sorry chuck, THANKS, I didn't see your reply as I said, i was making a simple mistake and multiplying the iron by the 3 at the end aswell . . .