Can #1/2H_2# be considered as a single hydrogen atom?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jan 13, 2018

No. It also cannot be considered half an #"H"_2# molecule. In terms of mass, it has the same mass as one hydrogen atom... but it is not physically the same.

#1/2 "H"_2# looks kind of like.. #" "##"H"-#
and it doesn't make physical sense to think of it that way. A bonded molecule is bonded.

#"H"# looks like... #" "" "" "" "##"H"cdot#
Just a single atom, not bonded.

It is physically reasonable to consider this half a mol of #"H"_2# molecules. Then you still have #3.011 xx 10^(23)# whole molecular particles.

But when you get down to per-particle-scale reactions, you should double every stoichiometric coefficient so that you have integers.

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