If your child was born on Christmas, you may hear complaints about fewer birthday presents than other kids and more holiday hoo-ha to contend with. (Both most definitely first-world problems.). As it turns out, Christmas birthdays are not only unfortunate -- they're also almost uniquely uncommon. In fact, December 25 is the least common birthday out of all the days of the year save the one that doesn't even occur annually -- February 29.
In a decomposition reaction a compound is broken into smaller chemical species. AB â A + B. The electrolysis of water into oxygen and hydrogen gas is an example of a decomposition reaction : 2 H 2 O â 2 H 2 + O 2. Another example is the decomposition of potassium chloride into potassium and chlorine gas.
Examples of Reactants. A general reaction may be given by the equation: A + B â C. In this example, A and B are the reactants and C is the product. There do not have to be multiple reactants in a reaction, however. In a decomposition reaction, such as: C â A + B. C is the reactant, while A and B are the products. You can tell the reactants because they are at the tail of the arrow, which points toward the products. H2 (hydrogen gas) and O2 (oxygen gas) are reactants in the reaction that forms liquid water: 2 H2(g) + O2(g) â 2 H2O(l).