what happens when an Alkali metal reacts with Sulphur dioxide (sulfur dioxide)?
2007-02-02 22:57:17 · 3 answers · asked by PFX 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
really. i didnt kno dat cuz it was in my chem o level course. i just want to kno da rexn and some eq.
2007-02-02 23:04:16 · update #1
I have actually done this experiment. It is not a bomb, or anything like it. It's just a rather violent reaction.
Burning potassium (or sodium) continue to burn - very brightly - in sulphur dioxide. The temperature rises considerably. When I did it (nearly 30 years ago as a graduate student) the deflagrating spoon melted, and the gas jar cracked. I assumed that a complex mixture of reactions occurred, one of which was the reduction of sulphur dioxide by the metal, for example:
4K + SO2 ----> 2K2O + S
2007-02-02 23:44:24 · answer #1 · answered by Gervald F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out the possible oxidation states for the element. Sulfur can be -2, 0, +4 and +6. In SO2 it is +4, so it is possible to go higher (+6) or lower (0, -2). Thus SO2 has the potential to be a reducing agent, an electron donor: or an oxidizing agent, electron acceptor.
2016-03-29 02:44:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yea right who you fooling your making a bomb!
2007-02-02 23:00:03 · answer #3 · answered by atomic49er 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋