Question

Write balanced chemical equations to explain what happens when (i) Mercuric oxide is heated.

Answer 1

Chemical Reactions:

• When two or more compounds mix to generate a new material, a chemical change occurs.

Balanced Reactions:

• An equation for a chemical reaction is said to be balanced if both the reactants and the products have the same number of atoms and total charge for each component of the reaction.
• In other words, both sides of the reaction have an equal balance of mass and charge.

In case, when Mercuric oxide is heated:

• When the red solid mercuric oxide ($\mathrm{HgO}$) is heated to a very high temperature, it decomposes into mercury ($\mathrm{Hg}$), a grey residue, and oxygen gas (${\mathrm{O}}_2$)

$$\begin{gathered} 2\mathrm{HgO}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\to 2\mathrm{Hg}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right) \\ \mathrm{Mercuric}\mathrm{Mercury}\mathrm{Oxygen} \\ \mathrm{Oxide} \end{gathered}$$.