What kind of compound is h2so4

It is just too enthusiastic to combine with water, for example when falling as acid rain. This is rain in the form of dilute acid as a result of pollution - whether from chimneys or from the decomposition of natural materials. Gases like sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen combine with water vapour in the air to form dilute acids.

Even 'clean' rain is acidic, as it reacts with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce carbonic acid, but acid rain is significantly more corrosive, with a pH as low as 2. It can seriously damage plant life and buildings, converting whole forests to stick-like remnants and dissolving away carbonate rocks like limestone and marble.

But the rareness of sulfuric acid in nature isn't the case once we leave the Earth. Venus, the hottest planet in the solar system, has an atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide, providing a runaway greenhouse effect. But it is also swathed in thick clouds of sulfuric acid that give the planet its reflective brightness. Not only is this a world where lead would run liquid on the surface, it rains sulfuric acid.

Sulfuric acid is not a pleasant substance. It causes severe burns and intense damage to skin and eyes. Yet it's hard to be entirely vitriolic about a substance that keeps cars on the move and gives us essential fertilisers.

At least we know one thing. Sulfuric acid may sometimes be vile - but it will never be base. If you love listening to the chemistry in its element podcast, subscribe today and never miss an episode. Hmm, and right now I'm quite glad we live on Earth, rather than Venus, that's for sure.

That was Brian Clegg, with the vitriolic compound, sulfuric acid. Now, next week: inhale, and exhale - the compound that clears your airways. I remember our GP showing me the blue-grey puffer and explaining how I should exhale as far as I could, and then while inhaling slowly, squeeze the small canister to release a single puff of aerosol. If the taste was faintly medicinal, the effect was astonishing: within seconds, the wheeze would be gone. My laughter would change from a shallow giggle to a hearty belly laugh.

The drug proved an absolute blockbuster. Until then, I'm Meera Senthilingam, and thank you for listening. This means that the bonds that hold magnesium and oxygen together are formed between atoms that give electrons or…. Iodine is in Group 17 of the Periodic Table. That means it is a nonmetal. Metals react with nonmetals to form ionic compounds. In the same way, a potassium atom transfers an electron to an iodine atom to form a potassium ion and an iodide ion.

Potassium is the major cation positive ion inside animal cells, while sodium is the major cation outside animal cells…. Likewise, a water molecule is ionic in nature, but the bond is called covalent, with two hydrogen atoms both situating themselves with their positive charge on one side of the oxygen atom, which has a negative charge. I2 is a molecular solid. Each iodine molecule is made up of 2 iodine atoms, held together by a strong covalent bond. We have come across the chapters in inorganic chemistry that deals with the types of bonds existing between two atoms in a molecule that is covalent bonds or ionic bonds or dative bonds etc.

To see which one is favoured you need to consider the stoichiometry number of moles in the balanced equation for the following two reactions. Dilute sulfuric acid neutralises basic carbonates to form sulfate salts, water and carbon dioxide, resulting in effervescence as shown in the photo, right. The rate of reaction not only depends on the surface area of the carbonate and the concentration and temperature of the acid, but also on the solubility of the sulfate.

When marble CaCO 3 reacts with dilute H 2 SO 4 it initially effervesces but because calcium sulfate is only sparingly soluble in water, once it forms as a deposit on the marble surface, the reaction soon slows. Dilute sulfuric acid reacts with metals higher than hydrogen in the reactivity series to form sulfate salts and hydrogen gas.

Note the metal reactions are different with concentrated sulfuric acid. Iron is cleaned free from rust prior to coating with tin to form tinplate and with zinc to form galvanized iron. Gypsum is CaSO 4. The laxative ' epsom salt ' is MgSO 4. In , Glauber made sulfuric acid by distilling crystals of this salt. Potassium sulfate is unusual in that it crystallizes without water of crystallization and has the formula K 2 SO 4.

As sulfuric acid is dibasic, diprotic it is capable of forming two salts depending on the amount of alkali present in the reaction mixture;. In , solid frozen sulfuric acid was discovered on Jupiter's moon, Europa. Scientists have even identified solid sulfuric acid hydrates such as hemitriskaidecahydrate H 2 SO 4. Aromatic sulfonation is when an H is replaced by SO 3 H a sulfonic acid group.

In the case of benzene, it needs to be heated with conc. H 2 SO 4 for 8 h to produce benzenesulfonic acid. This reaction is too slow and not to be attempted as benzene is implicated in childhood leukemia.

Instead, it's better faster and safer to use toluene methylbenzene , as the methyl CH 3 group is electron releasing and speeds up the reaction. The procedure is: Add 30 drops of conc. H 2 SO 4 to 12 drops of toluene in a test-tube. Warm until the methylbenzene has dissolved into the acid layer.