15 Facts on HCl + Ag2CO3: What, How To Balance & FAQs

Ag₂CO₃ is a yellow compound that is poorly soluble in water like most transition metal carbonates. Let us talk about the reaction between Ag₂CO₃ with HCl in detail.

Silver carbonate or Ag₂CO₃ is a metal salt that reacts with strong acid, HCl, and forms the precipitate of silver chloride (AgCl) and weak carbonic acid (H₂CO₃). Being an unstable compound, carbonic acid dissociates into carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O).

Let us discuss the products, type, balancing method, intermolecular forces, and calculation of enthalpy of the reaction between HCl and Ag₂CO₃.

What is the product of HCl and Ag₂CO₃?

The transition metal carbonate, Ag₂CO₃ reacts with the strong acid, HCl, and produces silver chloride (AgCl), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and water (H₂O). At first, carbonic acid is formed. But it will be dissociated and forms carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O).

Ag₂CO₃ (aq) + 2HCl (aq) = 2AgCl (aq)↓ + CO₂ (g) + H₂O (l)

What type of reaction is HCl + Ag₂CO₃?

The reaction HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is an-

• Exothermic reaction (change of enthalpy is negative)
• Precipitation reaction
• Double-displacement reaction

How to balance HCl + Ag₂CO₃?

The below steps must be followed to balance any chemical reaction-

• First the unbalanced chemical is equation is written with a right arrow sign. Ag₂CO₃ (aq) + HCl (aq) → AgCl (aq) + CO₂ (g) + H₂O (l)
• Calculate the number of moles present for each element in the reactant and product side.

• To balance both sides (reactant and product) we have to multiply 2 with HCl on the reactant side as well as 2 with AgCl on the product side to balance the number of moles of silver, hydrogen, and chlorine.
• Therefore, the final balanced equation will be – Ag₂CO₃ (aq) + 2HCl (aq) = 2AgCl (aq)↓+ CO₂ (g) + H₂O (l).

HCL + Ag₂CO₃ Titration

The titration of HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ cannot be performed because the solubility of Ag₂CO₃ is very less in the solution. All the argentometric titration is done using either silver nitrate (AgNO₃) or silver chromate (Ag₂CrO₄) to determine the amount of Cl^– ion due to the moderate solubility of AgNO₃ in an aqueous solution.

HCl + Ag₂CO₃ Net Ionic Equation

The net ionic equation of the chemical reaction is 2Ag⁺ (aq) + CO₃^2- (aq) + 2H⁺ (aq) + 2Cl^– (aq) = 2Ag⁺ (aq) + 2Cl^– (aq) + CO₂ (g) + H₂O (l).

HCL + Ag₂CO₃ Conjugate Pairs

The conjugate pairs (pair of compounds differ by one proton) equation of HCl + Ag₂CO₃ is –

• The conjugate pair of HCl is Cl^–
• The conjugate pair of H₂O is OH^–
• The conjugate pair of H₂CO₃ is CO₃^2-

HCl and Ag₂CO₃ Intermolecular Forces

The intermolecular forces act on HCl and Ag₂CO₃ are-

• Ag₂CO₃ is an ionic metal carbonate. Therefore, the electrostatic force of attraction works between the silver and carbonate ions in the lattice of silver carbonate.
• In HCl, dipole-dipole force, London dispersion force, and hydrogen bonding are present as intermolecular forces.
• In the products, the electrostatic force of attraction is present in AgCl and dipole-dipole along with London dispersion forces are present in H₂O and CO₂.

HCl + Ag₂CO₃ Reaction Enthalpy

The enthalpy changes of the reaction HCl + Ag₂CO₃ is -93.174 KJ/mol. This value is obtained from the following mathematical calculation.

• The enthalpy of the product side is -127 KJ/mol (for AgCl), -393.474 KJ/mol (for CO₂), and -285.8 KJ/mol (for H₂O). The enthalpy values for the reactants are -505.8 KJ/mol (Ag₂CO₃), and -167.15 (HCl) KJ/mol respectively.
• The change of enthalpy of the reaction is = Total enthalpy of the products – Total enthalpy of the reactants = [{2×(-127) + (-393.474) + (-285.8)} – {2× (-167.15) + (-505.8)}] KJ/mol. = – 93.174 KJ/mol.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO3 a buffer solution?

The mixture of HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is not a buffer solution because it is a mixture of a strong acid and a basic salt. Buffer solution must contain either a weak acid or its conjugate bases like CH₃COOH and CH₃COONa or a weak base and its conjugate acids like NH₄OH and NH₄Cl.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO₃ a complete reaction?

The chemical reaction HCl + Ag₂CO₃ can only be a complete reaction if the reaction is written accurately with its actual products which are carbon dioxide, the ppt of AgCl along with water.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO₃ an exothermic or endothermic reaction?

The reaction HCl+Ag₂CO₃ is an exothermic reaction because the change of enthalpy is negative (-93.174 KJ/mol). This -ve enthalpy signifies that heat is absorbed on the product side and generated on the reactant side. It also indicates that the products are thermodynamically more stable than the reactants.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO3 a redox reaction?

The reaction of HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is not a redox reaction because no electron transfer takes place throughout the reaction. The oxidation state of all the reacting species like Ag, H, Cl, C, and O does not change from the reactant side to the product side due to no electron transfer.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO₃ a precipitation reaction?

HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is a precipitation reaction because on the product side silver chloride (AgCl) appears as a white precipitate in the solid state. It is not soluble in the aqueous solution and therefore precipitates out.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO₃ reversible or irreversible reaction?

HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is an irreversible reaction because the products cannot convert back into the reactants. It is a precipitation reaction in which AgCl is precipitated out from the reaction. Besides that, a gas is formed on the product side and due to having large entropy, products are more stable than the reactants.

Is HCl + Ag₂CO₃ displacement reaction?

HCl+ Ag₂CO₃ is a double displacement reaction. Generally, all the precipitation reactions must be a double displacement reaction because two ions are displaced simultaneously by each other in this type of reaction. In this reaction Ag and hydrogen also displace each other from HCl and Ag₂CO₃ respectively.

Conclusion

Ag₂CO₃ has different uses in different fields. It produces metal silver by the oxidation of formaldehyde. It is also used as a base in the Wittig reaction and a synthesis reagent in the Koenigs-Knorr reaction.

Aditi Roy

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I am Aditi Ray, a chemistry SME on this platform. I have completed graduation in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta and post graduation from Techno India University with a specialization in Inorganic Chemistry. I am very happy to be a part of the Lambdageeks family and I would like to explain the subject in a simplistic way.
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