Chemistry
State why nitric acid is a strong oxidizing agent and yields varying products such as NO, NO2 on reaction with metals, non-metals etc.
Nitric Acid
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Answer
The oxidizing property of nitric acid is based on the fact that when nitric acid undergoes decomposition, it yields nascent oxygen, which is very reactive.
2HNO3 (hot conc.) ⟶ H2O + 2NO2 + [O]
2HNO3 (mod. conc.) ⟶ H2O + 2NO + 3[O]
The nascent oxygen oxidises non-metals, metals, inorganic and organic compounds. Nitric acid itself undergoes reduction in a number of ways hence a number of reduction products [NO, NO2, N2O etc.] are formed depending on the acid concentration and the temperature of the reaction.
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