Answer to Question #103782 in General Chemistry for James Okike

Question

What is Overall reaction

Answer 1

We can say that an overall chemical reaction is a reaction that omits all intermediate steps and only has initial reactants and the product of the reaction. For instance, the reaction

Na₂CO3 + HCl => NaCl + CO₂ + H₂O

is the overall reaction because it shows the final products. However, this intermediate step is omitted:

H₂CO₃ => CO₂ + H₂O

Therefore, the reaction

Na₂CO₃ + HCl => NaCl + H₂CO₃

is not overall.