Video Transcript
When aqueous silver nitrate is
mixed with aqueous sodium chloride, a white solid precipitate of silver chloride is
produced. The symbol equation for this
reaction is shown below. AgNO3 blank plus NaCl blank react
to form AgCl blank plus NaNO3 blank. Which state symbols should be added
to each compound to complete the equation?
This question is asking us to add
state symbols to a reaction equation. So, let’s remind ourselves what we
mean by state symbols. State symbols tell us which
physical state a substance is in at the time. We use the letter s for solid. The letter l for liquid, g for gas,
and aq for aqueous, meaning dissolved in water. We are given our chemical reaction
equation in the chemical symbol form, but our experimental detail uses the full word
names for various compounds. To match these up, let’s convert
our chemical symbol equation into a word equation to make life easier.
Our periodic table tells us that
silver is Ag. Our compound contains nitrogen and
oxygen, so that must make it a nitrate. So, here, we have silver
nitrate. Na is the symbol for sodium and Cl,
the symbol for chlorine. So, this gives us sodium chloride,
the sort of thing you’d sprinkle on your fries. Next, we have silver and chlorine
again, so this must be silver chloride. And finally, we have sodium again
and nitrate, sodium nitrate. Next, we need to find each of these
compounds in the experimental detail to work out which state it is in.
Silver nitrate is first. And the question tells us that it
is aqueous. Aqueous means dissolved in water,
and the state symbol for aqueous is aq. Next, we have sodium chloride. This is also listed as aqueous. Next, we’re looking for the first
product, silver chloride. The question tells us that this
forms as a white solid precipitate. So, this is a solid, so we use the
letter s. But what about the sodium
nitrate? It’s not specifically listed. We know that sodium nitrate didn’t
precipitate as a solid. So it must have remained in
solution as aqueous. So, we can label this also as
aqueous. So, here we have our reaction
equation, complete with state symbols.
