{"id":225160,"date":"2025-06-03T21:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=225160"},"modified":"2025-06-03T21:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:05:11","slug":"why-is-the-reaction-so2-h2o-%e2%86%92-h2so2-not-balanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/03\/why-is-the-reaction-so2-h2o-%e2%86%92-h2so2-not-balanced\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the reaction SO2 + H2O \u2192 H2SO2 not balanced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why is the reaction SO2 + H2O \u2192 H2SO2 not balanced?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reaction SO\u2082 + H\u2082O \u2192 H\u2082SO\u2082<\/strong> is not balanced<\/strong> because H\u2082SO\u2082 is not the correct product<\/strong> of the reaction between sulfur dioxide (SO\u2082) and water (H\u2082O). The correct product is sulfurous acid (H\u2082SO\u2083)<\/strong>, not H\u2082SO\u2082. Therefore, the equation is chemically incorrect<\/strong>, not just unbalanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u2705 Correct Reaction:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

SO2+H2O\u2192H2SO3\\text{SO}_2 + \\text{H}_2\\text{O} \\rightarrow \\text{H}_2\\text{SO}_3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u274c Why SO\u2082 + H\u2082O \u2192 H\u2082SO\u2082 is incorrect:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Incorrect formula of the product:<\/strong>\n
      \n
    • H\u2082SO\u2082 suggests a sulfurous compound with an oxidation state of +2 for sulfur, which is uncommon and unstable under normal conditions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The known and stable oxoacid formed when sulfur dioxide dissolves in water is sulfurous acid (H\u2082SO\u2083)<\/strong>, in which sulfur has a +4 oxidation state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Redox inconsistency:<\/strong>\n
        \n
      • SO\u2082 is already in the +4 oxidation state. Forming H\u2082SO\u2082 implies an oxidation state of +2 for sulfur, which would require a reduction<\/strong>, but water alone cannot act as a reducing agent in this reaction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Molecular structure mismatch:<\/strong>\n
          \n
        • H\u2082SO\u2083 has a known molecular structure consistent with oxoacids (two OH groups and one =O double bond to sulfur). H\u2082SO\u2082 lacks such a recognized stable structure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n

          \u2705 Balanced and Correct Reaction:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          SO2+H2O\u2192H2SO3\\text{SO}_2 + \\text{H}_2\\text{O} \\rightarrow \\text{H}_2\\text{SO}_3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          This reaction is already balanced in terms of atoms<\/strong> (S:1, O:3, H:2) and charge<\/strong> (all species are neutral).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          The reaction SO\u2082 + H\u2082O \u2192 H\u2082SO\u2082<\/strong> is not balanced because H\u2082SO\u2082 is not the correct chemical product<\/strong>. The actual reaction produces H\u2082SO\u2083 (sulfurous acid)<\/strong>, which is both chemically valid and properly balanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Why is the reaction SO2 + H2O \u2192 H2SO2 not balanced? The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The reaction SO\u2082 + H\u2082O \u2192 H\u2082SO\u2082 is not balanced because H\u2082SO\u2082 is not the correct product of the reaction between sulfur dioxide (SO\u2082) and water (H\u2082O). The correct product is sulfurous acid (H\u2082SO\u2083), not H\u2082SO\u2082. Therefore, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}