This article was co-authored by Meredith Juncker, PhD. Meredith Juncker is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Her studies are focused on proteins and neurodegenerative diseases.
There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 693,231 times.
A good way to think about a chemical reaction is the process of baking cookies. You mix the ingredients together (flour, butter, salt, sugar, and eggs), bake it, and see that it changes into something new: cookies! In chemistry terms the equation is the recipe, the ingredients are "reactants," and the cookies are "products." All chemical equations look something like "A + B →C (+ D. )," in which each letter variable is an element or a molecule (a collection of atoms held together by chemical bonds). The arrow represents the reaction or change taking place. Some equations may have a double-headed arrow (↔), which indicates that the reaction can proceed either forward or backward. To write the equations there are a number of important naming rules that you need to know.