Some distilled water is added to an empty beaker. A gram of copper(II) nitrate is added to the beaker with stirring. After a few minutes, what is in the beaker?

a. solid copper(II) nitrate and water
b. nitrogen gas, copper atoms, electrons, and water
c. a sticky material of copper hydronitrite
d. solid copper, nitrate ions, and water
5. copper ions, nitrate ions, and water

2 answers

Cu(NO3)2 + H2O ==> Cu^+2(aq) + NO3^-(aq) + H2O (if you want to get technical there will be a SMALL amount of H^+ and a SMALL amount of OH^-
e. copper ions, nitrate ions, and water.

a and b are eliminated because copper and nitrate turn out to be aqueous due to solubility rules.

that leaves you with b, c, and e.

with these types of problems, you'll never end up with electrons as the answer, it'll only ask you what the products are, and in the reactants, 'electrons' wasn't part of a compound.

lastly, you are with c and e.

this is pretty obvious as well, because H2O will stay H2O when you dissociate it, so you won't have copper hydronitrite. (Plus, that would require taking out oxygen and changing nitrate to nitrite, which doesn't follow the law of conservation of mass.