How to write and balance the equation for the reaction: sodium fluoride plus copper(II) nitrate produces sodium nitrate plus copper(II) fluoride?

1 Answer
Aug 20, 2017

Refer to the explanation.

Explanation:

You need to determine the formulas first.

sodium fluoride: #"NaF"#

copper(II) nitrate: #"Cu(NO"_3)"_2#

sodium nitrate: #"NaNO"_3#

copper(II) fluoride: #"CuF"_2#

#"NaF + Cu(NO"_3)_2"##rarr##"NaNO"_3 + "CuF"_2#

All of these compounds are ionic. If we look first at the polyatomic ion #"NO"_3"^-# as a whole, we can see that there are two of them on the lefthand side and one on the righthand side. So you need to place a coefficient of #2# in front of #"NaNO"_3"#. That will cause the #"NaF"# to be unbalanced, so you need to place a coefficient of #2# in front of #"NaF"#. This will balance the fluoride ions, and you're done.

#"2NaF + Cu(NO"_3)_2"##rarr##"2NaNO"_3 + "CuF"_2#