(For simplicity, we omit the physical states of reactants and products.) All three elements
(K, Cl, and O) appear only once on each side of the equation, but only for
K and Cl do we have equal numbers of atoms on both sides. Thus, KClO 3 and KCl
must have the same coefficient. The next step is to make the number of O atoms the
same on both sides of the equation. Because there are three O atoms on the left and
two O atoms on the right of the equation, we can balance the O atoms by placing a
2 in front of KClO 3 and a 3 in front of O 2 .