Question

Why does photographic films get spoilt when exposed to sunlight? Give an equation to support your answer.

Answer 1

• Photographic films contain silver bromide or silver chloride which can undergo a photolytic decomposition reaction if exposed to sunlight.
• This leads to the formation of silver metal on the film which appears as black spots on it.

$\underset{\mathrm{silver}\mathrm{bromide}}{\underset{}{2\mathrm{AgBr}}}\to \underset{\mathrm{silver}}{\underset{}{2\mathrm{Ag}}}+\underset{\mathrm{bromine}}{\underset{}{{\mathrm{Br}}_{2_{}}}}$