Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hold down the T key for 3 seconds to activate the audio accessibility mode, at which point you can click the K key to pause and resume audio. Useful for the Check Your Understanding and See Answers.

Fundamentals

Chemical reactions involve changes - changes of reactants into products. Basic chemical reactions can be grouped into categories based on the types of changes that are occuring during the reaction. There are five basic categories - synthesis, decomposition, combustion, single replacement, and double replacement.
 

There is only one question in this Question Group. But each time the question appears, the ordering of answers is scrambled.  Here is the question.


The Question:
Which one these statements describes how to typically tell the difference between a synthesis (S) reaction and a decomposition (D) reaction?
An S reaction has one product and two or more reactants and a D reaction has one reactant and two or more products.
An S reaction has one reactant and two or more products and a D reaction has one product and two or more reactants.
An S reaction has oxygen as a reactant and a D reaction has oxygen as a product.
An S  reaction has oxygen as a product and a D reaction has oxygen as a reactant.
 

How to Think About This Situation

To be successful with this question, you need to understand the distinction between Synthesis and Decomposition reaction types. Once understood, you will be able to answer this question easily. The infographic below describes each of the five reaction types. You will find information on Synthesis and Decomposition near the beginning of the infographic. Study it carefully and then answer the question.
 





 
 

Tired of Ads?
Go ad-free for 1 year