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For the reaction between copper and silver nitrate, write a balanced chemical equation

and predict the products. Include states of matter. What is the precipitate? Assume

copper goes to most common charge.

4 years ago

Answered By Kaushik S

The first thing to note is that it is given that copper goes goes to its most common charge, which is +2 and hence, the overall reaction would be:

Cu (s) + 2AgNO3 (aq) -> Cu(NO3)2 (aq) + 2Ag (s)

As we can see, copper initially is in the solid state and when introduced into silver nitrate in an aqueous solution, forms copper nitrate and silver metal. Some other important points to note are:

1. This is a redox reaction where copper is oxidised from a 0 oxidation state to +2 oxidation state in Cu(NO3)2 while silver is reduced from an oxidation state of +1 in AgNO3 to 0 in solid Ag 

2. The stoichiometry of the equation is as given above where 2 moles of AgNO3 react with 1 mole of Cu to give 1 mole of copper nitrate and 2 moles of silver metal. This is because the oxidation state of Cu increases to +2 while NO3- remains unchanged at -1.

Kindly let me know if anyone has any questions.