Whats the difference between balanced and unbalanced equation in cellular respiration?
Both of them are “true” – they just reflect different ways to portray the reactions on paper. The first one shows you the “net” reaction, the final result of using up all of the glucose. The second one shows you the general scheme of a reaction of a hydrocarbon with oxygen, without giving you specific quantities, because the reality of the cellular respiration reactions is very convoluted and not as nice and straightforward as it looks on paper. The balanced equation is going to be more useful to you because in 8th grade you need to understand that a cell is going to use up the hydrocarbon and get a set amount of energy (with the attendant release of water and gas) during respiration. It’s also important for you to be getting used to the concept of balanced equations, because you can’t do very much higher chemistry if you don’t understand how to balance them.
