Question

The decomposition of nitrogen dioxide is described by the following chemical equation:

2NO_2 (g) --------> 2NO (g) + O_2 (g)
Suppose a two-step mechanism is proposed for this reaction, beginning with this elementary reaction:
NO_2 (g) --------> NO_(g) + O_(g)
Suppose also that the second step of the mechanism should be bimolecular.
a) Suggest a reasonable second step. That is, write the balanced chemical equation of a bimolecular elementary reaction that would complete the proposed mechanism.

Answer 1

The balanced chemical equation will be "
`NO_(2)+O\rightarrow NO+O_(2)`".

Step-by-step explanation:

The given equation is:

`2NO_(2)\rightarrow 2NO+O_(2)`

Step 1:

`2NO_(2)\rightarrow NO+O`...(equation 1)

Step 2:

`NO_(2)+O\rightarrow NO+O_(2)`...(equation 2)

On adding "equation 1" and "equation 2", we get

⇒
`NO_(2)+NO_(2)+O\rightarrow NO+O+NO+O_(2)`

⇒
`2NO_(2)\rightarrow 2NO+O_(2)`

The second step:

⇒
`NO_(2)+O\rightarrow NO+O_(2)`