Question

Why doesn't barium nitrate react with sulfuric acid?

Answer 1

It does react with sulfuric acid!

Explanation:

Barium nitrate, `"Ba"("NO"_3)_2`, will react with sulfuric acid, `"H"_2"SO"_4`, to produce barium sulfate, `"BaSO"_4`, and aqueous nitric acid, `"HNO"_3`.

Barium sulfate is insoluble in water and will precipitate out of solution.

The balanced chemical equation for this double replacement reaction looks like this

`"Ba"("NO"_3)_text(2(aq]) + "H"_2"SO"_text(4(aq]) -> "BaSO"_text(4(s]) darr + 2"HNO"_text(3(aq])`

The complete ionic equation for this reaction looks like this

`"Ba"_text((aq])^(2+) + 2"NO"_text(3(aq])^(-) + 2"H"_text((aq])^(+) + "SO"_text(4(aq])^(2-) -> "BaSO"_text(4(s]) darr + 2"H"_text((aq])^(+) + 2"NO"_text(3(aq])^(-)`

To get the net ionic equation, eliminate spectator ions, i.e. the ions that are present on both sides of the equation

`"Ba"_text((aq])^(2+) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2"NO"_text(3(aq])^(-)))) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2"H"_text((aq])^(+)))) + "SO"_text(4(aq])^(2-) -> "BaSO"_text(4(s]) darr + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2"H"_text((aq])^(+)))) + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2"NO"_text(3(aq])^(-))))`

This will give you

`"Ba"_text((aq])^(2+) + "SO"_text(4(aq])^(2-) -> "BaSO"_text(4(s]) darr`

Barium sulftate is a white insoluble solid that precipitates out of solution.