Reactivity Documentation
Metals, Less Reactive |
mixed with |
Acids, Strong Oxidizing |
Summary
- Explosive: Reaction products may be explosive or sensitive to shock or friction
- Flammable: Reaction products may be flammable
- Generates gas: Reaction liberates gaseous products and may cause pressurization
- Generates heat: Exothermic reaction at ambient temperatures (releases heat)
- Toxic: Reaction products may be toxic
-
May produce the following gases:
- Hydrogen
- Ammonia
- Nitrogen Oxides
- Sulfur Oxides
Details
Reactivity Predictions (for each pair of reactive groups)
Metals, Less Reactive
Hazard Predictions
- Explosive: Reaction products may be explosive or sensitive to shock or friction
- Flammable: Reaction products may be flammable
- Generates gas: Reaction liberates gaseous products and may cause pressurization
- Generates heat: Exothermic reaction at ambient temperatures (releases heat)
- Toxic: Reaction products may be toxic
Sufficiently concentrated H2SO4 oxidizes metals, including the noble metals, producing flammable H2 gas (Muller, H. 2002. Sulfuric acid. In Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA (Online)).
Silver reacts exothermically with HNO3 at any concentration, producing AgNO3 (Mellor, J.W. 1967. Mellor's Modern Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 666.), and producing toxic NOx gases at high temperatures. It also reacts with H2SO4, producing toxic SO2 gas, and with mixtures of HNO3 and HCl, producing toxic NOCl gas. Silver also forms explosive salts with oxidizing acids (Renner, H., G. Schlamp. 2001. Silver, silver compounds, and silver alloys. In Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. (Online)).
Mercury reacts with warm or concentrated H2SO4, producing toxic SO2 gas (Mellor, J.W. 1967. Mellor's Modern Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 725; DeVito, S. C. and Brooks, W. E. 2005. Mercury. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. (Online)).
Powdered lead reacts with H2SO4 with evolution of toxic SO2 gas (Mellor, J.W. 1967. Mellor's Modern Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 793).
Peroxomonosulfuric acid decomposes explosively on contact with silver or platinum (Mellor, J.W. 1946. Mellor's Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry. Vol. 5, p. 483-484. Longmans, Green and Co Ltd.).
Both dilute and concentrated nitric acid dissolve mercury, forming mercurous salts when the mercury is in excess or no heat is used, and mercuric salts when excess acid is present or heat is used (DeVito, S. C. and Brooks, W. E. 2005. Mercury. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. (Online)).
Hot sulfuric acid dissolves tin, especially in the presence of oxidizers (Gaver, C. C. and Updated by Staff 2005. Tin and Tin Alloys. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. (Online)).
Concentrated nitric acid rapidly attacks palladium and osmium at room temperature (Seymour, R. J. and O'Farrelly, J. I. 2001. Platinum-Group Metals. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. (Online)).
Although cold nitric acid attacks tin only slowly, hot concentrated nitric acid converts it to an insoluble hydrated stannic oxide (Gaver, C. C. and Updated by Staff 2005. Tin and Tin Alloys. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. (Online)).
Copper decomposes dilute nitric acid into nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), and some nitrogen (N2), with the formation of copper nitrate (Cu(NO3)2) and copper nitrite (Cu(NO2)2) (Mellor, J.W. 1923. Mellor's Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry. Vol. 3, p. 91. Longmans, Green and Co Ltd.).
Potential Gas Byproducts
- Hydrogen (H2)
- Ammonia (NH3)
- Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
- Sulfur Oxides (SOx)