Question

What does the symbol aq represent in a chemical reaction?

Answer 1

• The symbol aq in a chemical reaction indicates an aqueous solution.
• Example: silver nitrate solution and sodium chloride solution react to form a white precipitate of silver chloride and sodium nitrate solution.

$\underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{nitrate}}{{\mathrm{AgNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{chloride}}{\mathrm{NaCl}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{chloride}}{\mathrm{AgCl}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{nitrate}}{{\mathrm{NaNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$

In the above reaction, ${\mathrm{AgNO}}_3,\mathrm{NaCl}\mathrm{and}{\mathrm{NaNO}}_3$ are in aqueous form.