Potassium bicarbonate is a chemical compound commonly used in the food industry as a leavening agent in baking. When heated, it undergoes a gas evolution reaction, resulting in the formation of carbon dioxide gas. The chemical equation for this reaction is as follows:

Word equation:

Potassium bicarbonate → Potassium carbonate + Carbon dioxide + Water

Input interpretation:

KHCO3 → K2CO3 + CO2 + H2O

Reactants: Potassium bicarbonate

Products: Potassium carbonate, carbon dioxide, and water

Balanced equation:

To balance the chemical equation, we use stoichiometric coefficients, denoted by c, to ensure that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation.

KHCO3 → K2CO3 + CO2 + H2O

c1KHCO3 → c2K2CO3 + c3CO2 + c4H2O

C: c1 = c2 + c3

H: c1 = 2c4

K: c1 = 2c2

O: 3c1 = 3c2 + 2c3 + c4

We set an arbitrary value of 1 for c2, which leads to the following coefficients:

c1 = 2

c2 = 1

c3 = 1

c4 = 1

Substituting these coefficients into the chemical equation gives us the balanced equation:

2KHCO3 → K2CO3 + CO2 + H2O