Question

Choose from the brackets and fill in the blanks with appropriate word.

Conc. sulphuric acid is a strong ____ agent. (oxidising /reducing)

Answer 1

• Conc. sulphuric acid is a strong _oxidising_ agent.
• In a chemical reaction, Sulphuric acid ( ${\mathbf{H}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{SO}}_{\mathbf{4}}$) oxidises other reactant present in the reaction to form product and itself get reduced.
• Example: Oxidation of copper metal with Sulphuric acid
• Copper ($\mathbf{Cu}$) metal on reacting with Sulphuric acid ( ${\mathbf{H}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{SO}}_{\mathbf{4}}$) gives Copper sulphate (${\mathbf{CuSO}}_{\mathbf{4}}$), water and Sulphur dioxide (${\mathbf{SO}}_{\mathbf{2}}$).
• The reaction is shown below.
  $$\begin{gathered} Cu\left(s\right)+2H_{2}S{O}_4\left(l\right)\to {\mathrm{CuSO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)+{\mathrm{SO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right) \\ \mathrm{Copper}\mathrm{Sulphuric}\mathrm{Copper}\mathrm{Sulphur} \\ \mathrm{acid}\mathrm{Sulphate}\mathrm{dioxide} \end{gathered}$$
• Therefore, concentrated sulphuric acid is a strong oxidising agent.