Question

Give balanced equation for the action of heat on :

Hypochlorous acid

Answer 1

Heating of Hypochlorous acid:

• When Hypochlorous acid is heated at (60-80)°C, gives hydrogen chloride and chloric acid.
• The chemical equation can be written as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Hypochlorous}\mathrm{acid}}{\mathrm{HClO}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\stackrel{60-{80}^{°}C}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{\mathrm{HCl}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Chloric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{HClO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$

Balancing of the chemical equation:

We get an unequal number of atoms in the given equation.

Atoms	Reactant	Product
H	1	2
Cl	1	2
O	1	3

Balancing the equation-

• We multiply HClO in the reactant part by 3.
• We multiply HCl in the product part by 2.

Atoms	Reactant	Product
H	3	3
Cl	3	3
O	3	3

Hence, the balanced equation is-

$\underset{\mathrm{Hypochlorous}\mathrm{acid}}{3\mathrm{HClO}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\stackrel{60-{80}^{°}C}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{2\mathrm{HCl}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Chloric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{HClO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$