Ammonia is oxidized with air to form nitric oxide in the first step of the production of nitric acid. Two principal gas-phase reactions occur:

4NH₃(g)  + 5O₂(g)  →  4NO(g)  +  6H₂O

2NO(g) + O₂(g) → 2 NO₂

Explanation:

First of all, we need to consider the reaction for production of ammonia. In this reaction we have as reactants, nitrogen and hydroge.

3H₂ (g) +  N₂(g)  →  2NH₃ (g)

Afterwards, ammonia reacts to oxygen, to produce NO and H₂O

The equation for the process will be:

4NH₃(g)  + 5O₂(g)  →  4NO(g)  +  6H₂O

Then, we take the nitric oxide to make it react, to produce NO₂, in order to produce nitric acid, for the final reaction:

2NO(g) + O₂(g) → 2 NO₂

3NO₂(g) + H₂O(g) → 2 HNO₃ (g) + NO(g)

2fe + 3h2so4 -> fe2(so4)3 + 3h2

it is necessary to balance equations in order to get the proper amount of reactants as well as products in order not to make a miscalculation.

you cannot change the subscripts as that would change the substance itself. for instance, diatomic elements such as h2 only have the subscript two when a gas. another example would be so4, if you were to change the subscript, the element would no longer be sulfate.

we change the coefficients instead as that only changes the number of molecules rather than the substance itself.

hope this !