Question

How will you prepare the following from nitric acid:

1. Sodium nitrate
2. copper nitrate
3. lead nitrate
4. magnesium nitrate
5. ferric nitrate
6. aqua regia.

Answer 1

(a) Sodium nitrate: Sodium hydroxide reacts with nitric acid to form sodium nitrate.

$\underset{\mathrm{sodium}\mathrm{hydroxide}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{NaOH}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{HNO}}_3}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{sodium}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{NaNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{water}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}$

(b) Copper nitrate: Copper oxide reacts with nitric acid to form copper nitrate.

$\underset{\mathrm{copper}\mathrm{oxide}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{CuO}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{2{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}\to \underset{\mathrm{copper}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Cu}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{water}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}$

(c) Lead nitrate: Lead reacts with concentrated nitric acid to form lead nitrate.

$\underset{\mathrm{lead}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Pb}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{4{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}\to \underset{\mathrm{lead}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Pb}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{water}}{\underset{}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitrogen}\mathrm{dioxide}}{\underset{}{2{\mathrm{NO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}}$

(d) Magnesium nitrate: Magnesium with dilute nitric acid to form magnesium nitrate.

$\underset{\mathrm{magnesium}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Mg}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{2{\mathrm{HNO}}_3}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{magnesium}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Mg}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{hydrogen}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{H}}_2}}$

(e) Ferric nitrate: Iron reacts with concentrated nitric acid to form ferric nitrate.

$\underset{\mathrm{iron}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Fe}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{6{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}\to \underset{\mathrm{ferric}\mathrm{nitrate}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{Fe}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_3(\mathrm{s}}})+\underset{\mathrm{water}}{\underset{}{3{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}}+\underset{\mathrm{nitrogen}\mathrm{dioxide}}{\underset{}{3{\mathrm{NO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}}$

(f) Aqua regia: Nitric acid reacts with hydrochloric acid to form a mixture called aqua regia

$\underset{\mathrm{nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}+\underset{\mathrm{hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{\underset{}{3\mathrm{HCl}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}}\to \underset{\mathrm{nitrosyl}\mathrm{chloride}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{NOCl}}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{water}}{\underset{}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}+2\mathrm{Cl}}}$