Question

Sharif investigates the reaction of the element sulfur. He uses a Bunsen burner to heat a small amount of sulfur. He allows the sulfur powder to burn in air. The burning sulfur produces white fumes. Then, Sharif puts the burning sulfur into a jar with 10 cm3 of distilled water. What kind of substance is formed when the white fumes dissolved in distilled water?

Answer 1

Answer:

Sulfur does not react with water. If you put the two together, the sulfur will float on the surface of the water or at best, the sulfur will get wet.

If you want sulfur to react with water you must first react sulfur with oxygen to form SO 2.

S + O 2 → SO 2

The SO 2 will then react with water to form H 2 SO 3 , sulfurous acid. To make sulfuric acid, you must allow the SO 2 to react with excess oxygen in the presence of a vanadium (V) catalyst to make SO 3 . When the SO 3 is bubbled through water it makes H 2 SO 4 .