Question

What is the property of nitric acid, which allows it to react with copper ?

Answer 1

The property which allows the nitric acid to react with copper is strong oxidizing property.

The reaction between $\mathrm{Cu}$ (copper metal) and ${\mathrm{HNO}}_3$(nitric acid) is represented as:-

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{Cu}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+4{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{l}\right)\to \mathrm{Cu}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{l}\right)+2{\mathrm{NO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right) \\ \left(\mathrm{Copper}\right)(\mathrm{Nitric}(\mathrm{Copper}(\mathrm{Nitrogen}(\mathrm{Water}) \\ \mathrm{acid})\mathrm{nitrate})\mathrm{dioxide}) \end{gathered}$$

Thus, the strong oxidizing property of nitric acid allows it to react with copper.