1.

State why nitric acid is a strong oxidising agent and yields varying products such as NO, NO2 on reaction with metals,non-metals etc.

Answer»

The oxidising property of nitric acid is based on the fact that when nitric acid undergoes decomposition, it yields nascent oxygen, which is very reactive.

2HNO3 (cone.) → H2O + 2NO2 + [O] 

2HNO3 (dil.) → H2O + 2NO + 3[O]

This nascent oxygen oxidises metals, non-metals, organic and inorganic compounds. During the process, nitric acid itself gets reduced to various products (NO, NO2 , N2O, NH3 , etc.) depending upon the concentration of the acid, reaction temperature and activity of the metal with which it is reacting.



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