Does hydrochloric acid react with silver metal? Would hydrochloric acid react with silver nitrate?

1 Answer
May 27, 2017

Hydrochloric acid is insufficiently oxidizing to react with silver metal......

Explanation:

However, water-soluble silver nitrate reacts according to the following equation:

#AgNO_3(aq) + HCl(aq) rarr AgCl(s)darr + HNO_3(aq)#

Addition of a chloride anion to a soluble silver salt results in a curdy white precipitate of #AgCl#. The silver chloride usually photo-oxidizes to give metallic silver. This reaction was the basis of early black and white photography, which utilized plates of UNEXPOSED silver chloride.