Hydrochloric acid can be produced by reacting silicon tetrachloride with water. Silicon dioxide is also produced.
a. Write the balanced chemical equation for this reaction.
I wasn't sure on this, I actually wanted an example and explanation. I guessed: SiCl4 + H2O --> HCl + SiO2
b. Why would it be incorrect to write an ionic equation for this reaction? (I don't know why it's incorrect)
2007-12-24 09:29:12 · 3 answers · asked by ♥ 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
a. Your answer is wonderful, except that you forgot to balance it. You have 4 Chlorine atoms, for example, on the reactant side, but only 1 Cl on the product side. It is necessary to balance the equation using coefficients in order to obey the Law of Conservation of Matter.
SiCl4 + 2H2O ~> 4HCl + SiO2 is the correct balanced chemical equation.
b. Remember that ionic equation has the reactants and products broken up to show the individual ions floating around in solution. In this case, there is only one ionic compound, the acid, so an ionic equation would be pointless since it only one compoun would be shown breaking into its ions. There are no specator ions which can be canceled out.
2007-12-24 09:38:32 · answer #1 · answered by lhvinny 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because silicon tetrachloride isn't an ionic compound (note that it's a tetrachloride, doesn't follow ionic naming), and neither is water. That equation involves covalent bonding.
2007-12-24 09:38:24 · answer #2 · answered by mo_c_mo33 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
sicl4 is a molecule with covalent bonds,. its not ionic. only the hcl is ionic
2007-12-24 09:39:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋