Is it possible that some chemical reactions can't be balanced through the redox method? Because it seems to me that the elements on the reactants side have the same oxidation states with the product side.
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2$\begingroup$ Of course the method is only applicable for reactions where the oxidation states actually change. A typical example where this would not be the case are acid/base-reactions. To improve your question, it would be good if you could add which "elements on the Reactants side" you are referring to. $\endgroup$– GerhardCommented Aug 11, 2015 at 6:59
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Sometimes you aren't able to use the redox method to balance a chemical equation. This is because the redox method is only used to balanced an equation where a element gets oxidised or reduced. However if there is a chemical equation where no element is getting oxidised or reduced, then you won't be able to use the redox method to balance the equation. However, fortunately most of the time these type of equations can be easily balanced. Consider the following unbalanced equation: $$\ce{Ba(OH)2.8H2O (s) + NH4SCN (s) -> Ba(SCN)2 (s) + H2O (l) + NH3 (g)}$$
Here none of the elements are reduced or oxidised, hence you would not be able to balance this equation using the redox method.
answered Aug 11, 2015 at 7:07