Question

How do you write a chemical formula for the following scenario:

Nitric acid is a component of acid rain that forms when gaseous Nitrogen dioxide pollutant reacts with gaseous Oxygen and liquid water to form aqueous Nitric acid?

Answer 1

Acid rain:

• Acid rain is any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall to the ground from the atmosphere
• The reactants for this reaction are gaseous Nitrogen dioxide$\left(\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)$, Oxygen$\left({\mathrm{O}}_2\right)$, and water, and the product obtained is aqueous Nitric acid$\left(\mathrm{HN}{\mathrm{O}}_3\right)$.
• The balanced of this chemical equation is

$\underset{\mathrm{Nitrogen}\mathrm{dioxide}}{4\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{4\mathrm{HN}{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$

• This is an example of a synthesis reaction, also known as a combination reaction because two or more reactants produce a single product.

Therefore, when Nitric acid is a component of acid rain that forms when gaseous Nitrogen dioxide pollutants react with gaseous Oxygen and liquid water to form aqueous Nitric acid as$\underset{\mathrm{Nitrogen}\mathrm{dioxide}}{4\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{4\mathrm{HN}{\mathrm{O}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$.