This document provides an overview of chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations. It discusses key concepts like reactants, products, and the law of conservation of mass. Chemical equations are used to represent reactions by showing the reactants on the left and products on the right, with subscripts indicating the number of atoms. For a reaction to be balanced, the number of each type of atom must be equal on both sides of the equation after applying coefficients. Balancing equations ensures the mass is conserved in accordance with the law of conservation of mass.