Question

26. Complete and balance the following equation:

$\mathrm{Na}\hspace{0.17em}+{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4$

Answer 1

Step 1: Write the skeletal chemical equation for the reaction

Sodium (Na), an active metal reacts with Sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) to form Sodium sulfate (Na₂SO₄), a metallic salt and hydrogen gas.

$\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{metal}}{\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\hspace{0.17em}+\underset{\mathrm{Sulfuric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{sulfate}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{gas}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$

Step 2: Determine the number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation

For balancing the reaction, both reactants and products should be balanced on both sides.

Reactant	Product
Na = 1	Na = 2
H = 2	H = 2
S = 1	S = 1
O = 4	O = 4

Step 3: Balance the number of Na-atoms on both sides of the equation

The number of atoms of each element is not equal. For balancing the equation, multiply, Na on the reactant side by 2.

$$\begin{gathered} 2\times \left(\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{metal}}{\mathrm{Na}}\right)\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\hspace{0.17em}+\underset{\mathrm{Sulfuric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{sulfate}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{gas}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)} \\ \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{metal}}{2\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\hspace{0.17em}+\underset{\mathrm{Sulfuric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{sulfate}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{gas}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)} \end{gathered}$$

Conclusion:

Hence, the balanced chemical equation for the given reaction is as follows:

$\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{metal}}{2\mathrm{Na}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}\hspace{0.17em}+\underset{\mathrm{Sulphuric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{sulphate}}{{\mathrm{Na}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{gas}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$