Question

Can you balance the following oxidation-reduction reaction and indicate which atoms have undergone oxidation and reduction? ____HNO3 + ____S --> ____NO + ____H2SO4

Answer 1

Your coefficients are 2 1 2 1.

Answer 2

Answer : The balanced oxidation-reduction reaction is,

$2HNO_3+S\rightarrow 2NO+H_2SO_4$

In this reaction, the 'S' atom shows oxidation and 'N' atom of $HNO_3$ shows reduction.

Explanation:

Redox reaction : It is a type of reaction in which an oxidation and reduction reaction takes palace simultaneously.

Oxidation : The loss of electrons and gain of oxygen or increase in the oxidation number is an oxidation.

Reduction : The gain of electrons and loss of oxygen or decrease in the oxidation number is a reduction.

The balanced redox reaction will be,

$2HNO_3+S\rightarrow 2NO+H_2SO_4$

From this we conclude that, the 'S' atom is oxidized due to increase in the oxidation number from 0 to (+6) and 'N' atom of $HNO_3$ is reduced due to decrease in the oxidation number from (+5) to (+2).  So, 'S' atom shows oxidation and 'N' atom shows reduction.