Question

Elemental boron is produced in one industrial process by heating diboron trioxide with magnesium metal, also producing magnesium oxide as a by-product. Write the unbalanced chemical equation for this process.

Short answer

\(B_2O_3 + Mg \rightarrow B + MgO\)

Step-by-step solution

1. Identify the reactants and products

The first step is to identify the chemical formulas for the reactants and products involved in the process. In this case, the reactants are diboron trioxide (B_2O_3) and magnesium metal (Mg), and the products are elemental boron (B) and magnesium oxide (MgO).

2. Write the unbalanced chemical equation

Now that we have identified the reactants and products, we can write the unbalanced chemical equation for this process. An unbalanced chemical equation shows the correct formulas for all species involved but does not necessarily obey the Law of Conservation of Mass (i.e., it may not have equal numbers of atoms for each element on both sides of the equation). Here is the unbalanced chemical equation for the given process: \(B_2O_3 + Mg \rightarrow B + MgO\) This equation represents the industrial process of producing elemental boron by heating diboron trioxide with magnesium metal while magnesium oxide is generated as a by-product.