Question

Write the balanced chemical equation for the following: The destruction of a marble statuary by acid rain: aqueous nitric acid reacts with solid calcium carbonate to form gaseous carbon dioxide, liquid water and aqueous calcium nitrate. What is the coefficient in front of nitric acid?

Answer 1

Answer: The coefficient in front of nitric acid is 2

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 salts 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) after their chemical formulas. Liquids are represented by (l) and gases are represented by (g).

The balanced chemical reaction is :

$CaCO_3(s)+2HNO_3(aq)\rightarrow Ca(NO_3)_2(aq)+CO_2(g)+H_2O(l)$