Question

Nitric acid in acid rain forms when gaseous nitrogen dioxide pollutant reacts with gaseous oxygen and liquid water to form aqueous nitric acid. Write a balanced chemical equation for this reaction. Express your answer as a chemical equation. Identify all of the phases in your answer.

Answer 1

For this reaction, the reactants are nitrogen dioxide, oxygen and water while the product would be nitric acid. The chemical equation would be written as:

NO2(g) + O2(g) + H2O(l) --> HNO3(aq)

This can be a complete equation when the elements are balanced in each side.


4NO2(g) + O2(g) + 2H2O(l) --> 4HNO3(aq)

Answer 2

Answer: $4NO_2(g)+O_2(g)+2H_2O(l)\rightarrow 4HNO_3(aq)$

Explanation:

According to the law of conservation of mass, mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. Thus the mass of products has to be equal to the mass of reactants. The number of atoms of each element has to be same on reactant and product side. Thus chemical equations are balanced.

The substances which are soluble in water are designated by symbol (aq) and those which are insoluble in water and remain in solid form are represented by (s) , liquids are represented by (l) and gases are represented by (g) after their chemical formulas.

The balanced chemical reaction will be:

$4NO_2(g)+O_2(g)+2H_2O(l)\rightarrow 4HNO_3(aq)$