Question

Write the balanced chemical equation for the following reaction:

Lead sulphate from lead carbonate.

Answer 1

Lead sulphate can't be prepared directly from lead carbonate.

This reaction involves two steps:-

Step-I It involves preparing of lead nitrate by reacting insoluble lead carbonate with dilute nitric acid.

The balanced chemical equation will be :

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{PbCO}}_3\left(s\right)+2{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to \mathrm{Pb}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(s\right)+{\mathrm{CO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right) \\ (\mathrm{Lead}(\mathrm{Nitric}(\mathrm{Lead}(\mathrm{Carbon}\left(\mathrm{water}\right) \\ \mathrm{carbonate})\mathrm{acid})\mathrm{nitrate})\mathrm{dioxide}) \end{gathered}$$

Step-II In this reaction, lead nitrate by reacting with dilute sulphuric acid is giving lead sulphate as a product. This is a double displacement reaction.

The balanced chemical equation will be :

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{Pb}{\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to {\mathrm{PbSO}}_4\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+2{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right) \\ (\mathrm{Lead}(\mathrm{sulphuric}(\mathrm{Lead}(\mathrm{nitric} \\ \mathrm{nitrate})\mathrm{acid})\mathrm{sulphate})\mathrm{acid}) \end{gathered}$$

Now in this reaction, lead nitrate is reacting with sulphuric acid and giving lead sulphate and nitric acid. This is a double displacement reaction.