Which term refers to a representation of a chemical reaction in which the reactants and products are written with their chemical formula?

• A. Chemical equation
• B. Chemical formula
• C. Metal
• D. Non metal

Answer: (A)

A chemical equation is a concise way to show a chemical reaction by writing the formulas of the reactants on the left and the formulas of the products on the right, with an arrow between them. It communicates not only which substances participate but also what new substances are formed, and balancing the equation ensures the same number of each type of atom on both sides. That fits the description because it is a representation of a reaction using chemical formulas for both reactants and products. By contrast, a chemical formula only lists the atoms in a single substance and doesn’t depict a reaction, while metal and nonmetal are just categories of elements, not representations of chemical changes. For example, the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen forming water is written as 2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O.