Question 23: Chlorine is used to purify drinking water. Excess of chlorine is harmful. The excess of chlorine is removed by treating with sulphur dioxide. Present a balanced equation for this redox change taking place in water.
Answer:
The given redox reaction can be represented as:
Cl2(s) + SO2(aq) + H2O(l) → Cl-(aq) + SO2-4(aq)
The oxidation half reaction is:
S+4 O2(aq) → S+6O2-4(aq)
The oxidation number is balanced by adding two electrons as:
SO2(aq) → SO2-4(aq) + 2e-
The charge is balanced by adding 4H+ ions as:
SO2(aq) → SO2-4(aq) + 4H+(aq) + 2e-
The O atoms and H+ ions are balanced by adding 2H2O molecules as:
SO2(aq) + 2 H2O(l) → SO2-4(aq) + 4H+(aq) + 2e- ..........(i)
The reduction half reaction is: The chlorine atoms are balanced as:
Cl2(s) → Cl-(aq)
The oxidation number is balanced by adding electrons
Cl2(s) + 2e- → 2 Cl-(aq) ............(ii)
The balanced chemical equation can be obtained by adding equation (i) and (ii) as:
Cl2(s) + SO2(aq) + 2 H2O(l) → 2 Cl-(aq) + SO2-4(aq) + 4H+(aq)
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