Question

What will happen if we mix sulphur with nitric acid?

Answer 1

In excess concentrated nitric acid the sulphur can be oxidised all the way to sulphur(VI), while with lesser quantities it only gets oxidised to sulphur(IV).

The oxidation reactions of nitric acid often give different products depending on the concentration and quantity. Copper, for example, reduces dilute nitric acid to nitrogen(II) oxide, while concentrated nitric acid gets reduced to nitrogen(IV) oxide.