This powerpoint provides students with a basic introduction to balancing chemical reactions. Students are introduced to the combustion reaction (where an organic compound reacts with oxygen to produce water vapor, carbon dioxide, and energy). The lesson teaches that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a reaction, so the number of each atom must be the same before and after the chemical reaction. The powerpoint walks through how to balance a chemical equation, and includes several checks for understanding where students can identify key terms and practice balancing reactions by themselves or with their groups.

By the end of the lesson, students should understand:

• Carbon is an essential element in combustion
• "Organic" molecules are molecules that contain carbon
• A chemical reaction must have equal numbers of each type of atom on both sides

The lesson concludes with some basic information about what flame and smoke are made of, and leads into a lab activity where students can observe candle flames and get more practice balancing equations.

This powerpoint file can be edited to better suit your needs. Speaker notes are included, and all check-for-understanding questions display answers on the next slide.