× Didn't find what you were looking for? Ask a question
Top Posters
Since Sunday
New Topic  
microB microB
wrote...
Posts: 53
Rep: 1 0
11 years ago
If the reaction is: Solutions of iron (III) chloride and tin(II) chloride are mixed...what would the final net ionic equation be?  Aren't the products and reactants the same...so wouldn't the oxidation numbers be the same?  ahhh...i'm confused.
Read 525 times
3 Replies

Related Topics

Replies
wrote...
11 years ago
Look at the two possible oxidation states of iron and tin.  Iron is either 2+ or 3+ while tin is either 2+ or 4+.  That should tell you that the redox will occur between the iron and the tin.

Fe3+  + e- ---> Fe2+
Sn2+ ---> Sn4+  +  2 e-

2 Fe3+ + 2 e- + Sn2+ ---> 2 Fe2+  + Sn4+   + 2 e-

2 Fe3+  + Sn2+ ---> 2 Fe2+  + Sn4+
wrote...
11 years ago
if all of the products and reactants are soluble and all of the ions cancel out, the result is that it does not react.  you can only write a net ionic equation when there is some change taking place on either side of the equation because that's what it is for, to show the change that took place in the reaction
wrote...
11 years ago
OK...in order to answer your question fully we need to consider two points.

a) What would the products be if the reaction had to occur?

Fe3+ is reduced to Fe2+ according to the half-equation:
Fe3+ + e Rightwards Arrow Fe2+

Sn2+ is oxidised to Sn4+ according to the half-equation:
Sn2+ Rightwards Arrow  Sn4+ + 2e

However, since the number of electrons involved in both cases has to be the same, then we have to multiply the first equation by 2, to obtain:
2Fe3+ + 2e Rightwards Arrow  2Fe2+

Summing up the two half-equations:
2Fe3+ + Sn2+ Rightwards Arrow  2Fe2+ + Sn4+

b) Should the reaction occur?
Just because you have determined the redox products does not necessarily guarantee that the reaction will occur. To determine this you need electrode potentials. In this particular case they are:

Fe3+ + e Leftwards Arrow> Fe2+   E = +0.77V
Sn4+ + 2e Leftwards Arrow> Sn2+  E = +0.154V

Now, a positive electrode potential implies that the equilibrium prefers to go to the right, so Fe2+ and Sn2+ are the preferred states for both half-equations. However, Fe3+ prefers to be reduced (0.77) much more than Sn2+ does not prefer to be oxidised (0.154), so the Fe3+ will win and the reaction should occur.

Please notice that I say SHOULD occur because this is merely a thermodynamic prediction. It is no guarantee that the reaction will, from a kinetic perspective, be fast enough or even proceed at all.
New Topic      
Explore
Post your homework questions and get free online help from our incredible volunteers
  1160 People Browsing
Related Images
  
 293
  
 652
  
 968
Your Opinion
Which industry do you think artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the most?
Votes: 352