Question

When nitrogen monoxide gas reacts with oxygen gas to produce nitrogen dioxide gas, what is the balanced chemical equation?

A) 2NO + O2 → 2NO2
B) NO + O2 → NO2
C) 2NO2 → 2NO + O2
D) NO2 → NO + O2

Answer 1

The balanced equation for the reaction of nitrogen monoxide with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxide is 2NO(g) + O2(g) → 2NO2(g).

Step-by-step explanation:

The balanced chemical equation for the reaction of nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas with oxygen (O2) gas to produce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas is 2NO(g) + O2(g) → 2NO2(g). This equation shows that two molecules of NO react with one molecule of O2 to produce two molecules of NO2.

Breaking down the reaction into steps, we can see that initially, two NO molecules collide to form an intermediate molecule of N2O2 (step 1), and then this intermediate reacts with a molecule of O2 to form two molecules of NO2 (step 2). The overall reaction is given by the summation of these two elementary steps resulting in the balanced equation provided.