What are decomposition reactions?

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Answer 1 · 2015-10-17T18:25:00

$Compound \to Products$ $"Compound "->" Products"$

Decomposition reaction is under this form:

$Compound \to Products$ $"Compound "->" Products"$

Which means is that you have one reactant which is a compound that will give you products which could be a combination of:

$Compound \to Compound + Compound$ $"Compound "->" Compound" + "Compound"$

$Compound \to Compound + element$ $"Compound "->" Compound" + "element"$

$Compound \to element + element$ $"Compound "->" element" + "element"$

Example:
When you heat $C u C O_{3}$ $CuCO_3$ it will decompose into copper(II) oxide $C u O$ $CuO$ and carbon dioxide $C O_{2}$ $CO_2$ :

$C u C O_{3} (s) \to C u O (s) + C O_{2} (g)$ $CuCO_3(s) -> CuO(s) + CO_2(g)$

Here is a video that explain all types of chemical reactions alone with an experimental example on each.