I am trying to determine how a paste of baking soda and water can remove silver tarnish. Can anyone please assist with products and balancing? Thank you very much.
Ag2S + NaHC03 ---> Na2S + Ag + _______???
What are the products of this reaction?
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the other product is probably CO2 and possibly water but im not too sure. You may be over thinking this too, a thick paste would also have abrasive properties and a little scrubbing may be what removes the tarnish rather than any chemical action
In Physical Chemistry experiments must be reproducible, they should fail the same way each time
I've done it and the cleansing happens even without rubbing. I am confident of the Na2S product, just need to figure out the others.Hwguy wrote:the other product is probably CO2 and possibly water but im not too sure. You may be over thinking this too, a thick paste would also have abrasive properties and a little scrubbing may be what removes the tarnish rather than any chemical action
I would say that Na2S is not probable because HS- is a very very weak acid, even weaker than HCO3-:Tanizaki wrote:I've done it and the cleansing happens even without rubbing. I am confident of the Na2S product, just need to figure out the others.Hwguy wrote:the other product is probably CO2 and possibly water but im not too sure. You may be over thinking this too, a thick paste would also have abrasive properties and a little scrubbing may be what removes the tarnish rather than any chemical action
Na2S + NaHCO3 = NaHS + Na2CO3
The common way to remove tarnish from a silver object is to put the object on the top of aluminum foil and then add NaHCO3. In this case the reaction is known:
3 Ag2S + 9 NaHCO3 + 2 Al = 3 NaHS + 3 Na2CO3 + 2 Al(OH)3 + 6 Ag + 6 CO2