Question

Is there a way to calculate what the products will be for SO2+Br+H2O?

In a textbook problem, my task was to write down the products and calculate the coefficients for
`SO_2+Br+H_2O`

I had only practiced reactions with two participants before that moment. I failed to guess what the products would be, and went googling. The reaction is as follows:
`SO_2+Br+2H_2O->2HBr+H_2SO_4`

Was there any way to calculate the products in advance?

Answer 1

There is something I would call a chemical intuition.

Explanation:

There are many reactions you can see for the first time in spite of going through many during your studies. But sometimes you can have a feeling of what's going to happen in a reaction.

Here we now that `SO_2` likes to form an acid. The most probable one is `H_2SO_4`. Following that we can assume that it will take the oxygen and hydrogen from water. We are left with one hydrogen and bromine. What can they make? `HBr`!