Below is the symbol equation for the reaction of zinc with hydrochloric acid to produce zinc chloride and hydrogen gas. What number is needed in the blank before HCl to balance the equation? Zn+ldots HClarrow ZnCl_(2)+H_(2) Enter your answer as a number

## The chemical equation provided is: ## Balancing a chemical reaction involves making sure we have the same number of each kind of atom on each side of the reaction (reactants side and products side). ## The zinc is balanced, we have one atom on each side. ### When checking the chlorine and hydrogen atoms, we need to have a balanced number for each of them on both sides of the reaction.### For every 1 Zinc Chloride product ( ), we have 2 Chlorine molecules.### Hydrogen's final product is Hydrogen gas, which is usually denoted as . So, we need 2 hydrogen atoms on the reactants side as well.## To achieve the necessary balance, we need two hydrochloric acid molecules reacting with one zinc atom. Therefore, placing a '2' in the aforementioned blank yields a completely balanced formula for this chemical reaction.