Question

The chemical reaction between a piece of copper and nitric acid is given by the chemical equations

Cu + HNO3 -> Cu(NO3)2 + H2
H2 + HNO3 -> H2O + NO2

What can be inferred from the chemical equation?
(a) Copper causes the oxidation of HNO3 to form NO2.
(b) Hydrogen gas gets oxidized by HNO3 to form water.
(c) gas reacts with oxygen in the air to form water.
(d) Nitrate reacts with hydrogen to form NO2 and H2O.

Answer 1

Answer:

Option b (hydrogen gets oxidized by HNO3 to form water)

Explanation:

HNO3 (nitric acid) is a strong oxidizing agent.

It oxidizes H2 to form water by itself getting reduced to any of the nitrogen oxides (NO2, N2O and NO).

Hope this answer helped you!

Answer 2

From the chemical equation, the following statement can be inferred: (b) Hydrogen gas gets oxidized by HNO3 to form water.

• As it can be seen from the second reaction, hydrogen is oxidized to water by nitric acid. (Nitric acid is a strong oxidizing agent, here also it oxidizes hydrogen.)
• Copper is not causing oxidation of nitric acid as can be seen from the first reaction.
• Water formation in the air is not talked about in either of the equations.
• It is not necessary that every nitrate will react with hydrogen to form nitrogen dioxide and water.