Question

State what you would observe when: Hydrochloric acid is added to a solution of silver nitrate.

Answer 1

• When hydrochloric acid is added to a solution of silver nitrate, white precipitation of silver chloride $\mathrm{AgCl}$ is formed.
• $\underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{nitrate}}{{\mathrm{AgNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{\mathrm{HCl}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\underset{(\mathrm{white}\mathrm{ppt}.)}{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{chloride}}}{\mathrm{AgCl}\downarrow }+\underset{\mathrm{Nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$
• It is a double displacement reaction.
• Conclusion : Here we observe that, when hydrochloric acid is added to a solution of silver nitrate, white precipitation of silver chloride is formed.