Final answer:
In a chemical reaction, spectator ions do not participate in the chemical change and are present unchanged on both sides of the equation. In the given example, the spectator ions are Na+ and NO3ˍ, which are omitted in the net ionic equation, focusing only on the reactive ions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The spectator ions in a chemical reaction are ions that are present in the solution but do not participate in the actual chemical change. In the ionic equation mentioned, the spectator ions would be present on both sides of the equation, unchanged by the chemical reaction. To find the net ionic equation, you would identify these spectator ions and omit them from the equation since they do not influence the outcome of the reaction.
For instance, if we consider the reaction:
Na+ (aq) + Clˍ (aq) + Ag+ (aq) + NO3(aq) → Na+ (aq) + NO3 (aq) + AgCl (s)
The sodium ion (Na+) and the nitrate ion (NO3ˍ) are spectator ions because they appear unchanged on both the reactant and the product sides of the equation. Thus, they can be removed to simplify the equation, leading to the net ionic equation which only includes the ions that actually participate in forming the product, in this case, Ag+ (aq) and Clˍ (aq) forming AgCl (s).
Remember that while spectator ions are not included in the net ionic equation, they are indeed still present in the solution.