Reactants and Products

Picture a campfire crackling in the dark, its flames dancing and warming the chilly air. A chemical reaction powers that mesmerizing fire.

In every chemical reaction, reactants initiate the process and transform into entirely new substances as the reaction progresses.

For example, in a burning matchstick, the reactants are the chemicals on its head and oxygen in the surroundings, which combine to produce heat, light, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.

The atoms in the reactants rearrange themselves, forming products with properties completely different from those of the reactants.

Let’s identify the reactants and products for a few reactions.

When an iron rod is left out in the rain, it reacts with oxygen and water. Here, the reactants are iron and oxygen, and the product is iron oxide commonly referred to as rust.

When plants perform photosynthesis, sunlight drives their reaction. The reactants are carbon dioxide and water, forming sugar and oxygen as products.

Always observe your surroundings. You can see that every reaction starts with reactants and ends with products.