Question

Question 49 (a)
An element X which is a yellow solid at room temperature shows catenation and allotropy. X forms two oxides which are also formed during the thermal decomposition of ferrous sulphate crystals and are the major air pollutants.

Identify the element X.

Answer 1

Element X is sulphur and it is denoted as S. Its atomic number is 16. It is located in the 3^rd period and group 16 of the modern periodic table. Iron sulphate undegoes thermal decomposition to form iron oxide, sulphur dioxide and sulphur trioxide. The balanced chemical equation is given below:

$2{\text{FeSO}}_4\text{(s)}\stackrel{\text{Heat}}{\to }{\text{Fe}}_2{\text{O}}_3\text{(s)}+{\text{SO}}_2\text{(g)}+{\text{SO}}_3\text{(g)}$

Sulphur dioxide and sulphur trioxide are major air pollutants.