High school Chem and reactions?

[Timothy S]

In high school chemistry, which I am in right now, we are the very simple means by which to balance a chemical reaction and determine the products of a reactions. My question is; is any reaction possible as long as the valence electrons of the reactants equal eight? Obviously the answer is no, but how would you determine if certain reactions are possible or not.

 

[Borek]

is any reaction possible as long as the valence electrons of the reactants equal eight

Octets work reasonably well only for 2^nd period.

 

[Navy Stone]

There is a whole part of Chemistry called Reaction Prediction. You can look it up on YouTube to see instructors explaining how to predict the reaction that would occur between different chemicals.