Balancing Redox Reactions in Basic Solutions

[RoKe]

Formation of Hydrazine from Ammonia and Chloramine in basic solution.
NH3 + NH2Cl -> N2H4 + Cl-
What are the coefficients of NH3, OH-, and N2H4 in the balanced equation?
I basically just balanced the hydrogens with an H+, then those with OH-, and got:
NH3 + NH2Cl + OH- ->N2H4 + Cl- + H2O
This is the right answer according to my answer sheet (1, 1 and 1), I was just wondering if this is the correct method. I'm not sure how I would use a half-reaction method here and at my university it's recommended we do not use the oxidation number method. Any explanations on how to approach these problems would be appreciated.

 

[Gokul43201]

What you've done works just fine. When the question states that the reaction is happening under basic (or alkaline) conditions, you want the equation to involve OH- rather than H+, as you finally have.

The reason what you did worked is because H was the only unbalanced species in the given equation; all other elements were balanced.

Different equations are best solved using different tools (by simply matching numbers of atoms, or using the oxidation number method, or using the half reaction method). In this case, I would have done it the same way you did.