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Question
Predict the products of the following acid-base reactions, and predict whether the equilibrium lies to the left or to the right of the equations $$\ce{NO2- + H2O -> ?}$$

I thought it would be $\ce{NO2- + H2O -> HNO2 + OH-}$, but my textbook says that the correct products are $\ce{HNO3}$ and $\ce{OH-}$. What am I doing wrong here? The answer that they give doesn't even seem to balance.

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    $\begingroup$ It's probably a typo. Nitrate is used very often and nitrite much less so. It's an easy mistake to make and a difficult one to catch. That's my best guess unless they give an answer of the type that @Matej suggests, though that seems to require quite a bit of insight into the chemistry for an AP Chem text. $\endgroup$
    – Jason Patterson
    Commented Nov 9, 2014 at 15:17
  • $\begingroup$ Can you recheck and clarify if the question gives you $\ce{NO2}$ or $\ce{NO2-}$? The sign makes a big difference. If you had $\ce{NO2}$ gas, then you will get both $\ce{HNO3}$ and $\ce{HNO2}$ ($\ce{HNO2}$ further undergoes disproportionation to give $\ce{HNO3}$ and $\ce{NO}$). $\endgroup$
    – Yashas
    Commented May 9, 2017 at 15:22

2 Answers 2

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It should form nitrous acid... If it was $NO_3^{-}$, nitrate ion, then it would presumably form nitric acid $HNO_3$.

Nitrous acid reacts with water to form nitrite and hydronium:

$$\ce{HNO_2 + H_2O -> NO_2^- + H_3O^+} $$

Water is an amphoteric species. Assuming we just have water the nitrite ion, the nitrite ion accepts the hydrogen forming nitrous acid:

$$\ce{NO_2^- + H_2O -> HNO_2 + OH^-} $$

This reaction is interesting as well since nitrous acid will also dissociate again into nitrite ions and water as well:

$$\ce{HNO_2 + H_2O -> NO_2^- + H_3O^+} $$

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  • $\begingroup$ I checked several times, the book says that the products are $\ce{HNO3}+\ce{OH-}$ $\endgroup$
    – scrblnrd3
    Commented Mar 3, 2014 at 1:34
  • $\begingroup$ Chemistry, the Central Science, 11th AP Edition. Question is on page 711 $\endgroup$
    – scrblnrd3
    Commented Mar 3, 2014 at 1:44
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It can be, since the $\ce{HNO2}$ is very unstable and decompose very easily (disproportioning): $$\ce{3HNO2 \rightarrow HNO3 + 2NO +H2O}$$

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