Video Transcript
What are the names of the products
of the thermal decomposition of sodium nitrate?
Sodium is a very important
element. It’s used in biological functions,
industrial processes, and is even found in household items like table salt. There also exist many compounds of
sodium, one of which is sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate has many uses,
including fertilizers and in food preservation.
In this question, we are asked to
determine the products from the thermal decomposition of sodium nitrate. Thermal decomposition is the
breaking down of a substance when heated to form two or more other substances.
Let’s start by writing down the
chemical formula for sodium nitrate. The sodium ion has a charge of one
plus, and the nitrate is a polyatomic ion with a formula of NO31−. When the charges are crossed and
the plus and minus signs are dropped, the formula for sodium nitrate is NaNO3. We can also write the formula that
reflects the presence of one sodium ion for every one nitrate ion to form a neutral
compound. Next, we can draw the reaction
arrow. We can also include a triangle on
the reaction arrow to indicate that heat is applied to the reaction. If we heat up sodium nitrate,
sodium nitrite and oxygen gas are created.
Now let us understand how the
formula for sodium nitrite is written. The sodium ion has a charge of one
plus, and nitrite is another polyatomic ion, which has the chemical formula
NO21−. When we cross the charges and drop
the plus and minus signs, the formula for sodium nitrite is NaNO2. We can also write the formula that
reflects the presence of one sodium ion for every one nitrite ion to form a neutral
compound. The other product, oxygen gas, can
be written as O2 since it is a diatomic element. We can complete our chemical
equation by balancing it with a coefficient of two in front of sodium nitrate and
sodium nitrite.
Therefore, the products of the
thermal decomposition of sodium nitrate are sodium nitrite and oxygen gas.
