Question

Give the balanced equation to prepare sulphur dioxide. Which type of oxide is sulphur dioxide?

Answer 1

In chemistry, compounds react to form new products but they do so in specific proportions. Different proportions of different reactions may lead to the formation of different products. Some laws govern the reaction and the proportions in which the compounds react and thus form a proportionate reaction.

Complete step by step answer:
Chemical reactions represent the chemical changes that happen in various elements. The chemical reaction is written to represent the way and proportions that the elements and compounds adopt for the formation of products.These chemical reactions need to be balanced for the correct representation of proportions in which they react. Different proportions of the reactants provide different reactions and thus different products. The reaction is balanced by adding the coefficient in which the reactants form and the products form. These coefficients represent the molar coefficient and the respective number of particles that take part in a particular reaction.The preparation of sulphur dioxide involves the heating of concentrated sulphuric acid with some copper turnings. The reaction of the following process can be depicted as,
$Cu + 2{H_2}S{O_4} \to CuS{O_4} + S{O_2} + 2{H_2}O$
This sulphur dioxide is found to be acidic.

Note: The acidity or the basicity of any compound can be easily determined by the use of litmus paper or the $pH$ paper. These act as an indicator for the compounds. For a gas like sulphur dioxide to be tested we need to dampen the paper and then expose the gas to the dampened paper. The paper will change the colour based on the nature of the compound.