Below is the symbol equation for the reaction of potassium with water to produce potassium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. What number is needed in the blank before KOH to balance the equation? 2K+2H_(2)Oarrow KOH+H_(2)

## Step 1:First, identify the types of atoms in question in the reaction: potassium (K), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O). ## Step 2:On the left side of the equation, there are 2 potassium atoms (in '2K'), 4 hydrogen atoms (in '2H₂O') and 2 oxygen atoms (also in '2H₂O').## Step 3:On the right side of the equation (prior to filling the blank), you have 1 potassium atom (in ), 1 hydrogen atom (also in ) and 1 oxygen atom (again in ). In addition, there are 2 hydrogen atoms in .## Step 4:Ensure there's balance in all the three types of elements (potassium, hydrogen, and oxygen). Balance between left and right side for potassium and oxygen can be achieved by filling the blank with a '2'. Thus becomes '2 '. This brings a balance through making 2 potassium atoms and 2 oxygen atoms respectively.## Step 5:Similarly, for hydrogen there are 4 atoms on the left side and a total of 4 on the right side (since each of the '2 ' contains one hydrogen atom each, which added to the leads to a total of 4 hydrogen atoms). This gives required balance for Hydrogen atoms.### Therefore, the correct balanced equation would be: