In chemical reactions, what must balance?

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Mass is conserved in every chemical reaction, so the number of atoms of each element must be the same on both sides of a balanced equation. The coefficients in front of compounds are adjusted to equalize these counts, while subscripts inside formulas stay fixed because changing them would create different substances. Temperature, pressure, and color describe reaction conditions or appearance and do not determine balance; they can vary without altering the stoichiometric counts of atoms.