When sulfuric acid is added to magnesium nitrate, is the resulting product soluble or insoluble in water? Does a precipitate form?

Question

I think that the product is insoluble, and no precipitate forms. Is this right? The part I'm most unsure about is whether or not a precipitate forms.

Answer 1

If a reaction occurred, it would be
Mg(NO3)2 + H2SO4 ==> MgSO4 + 2HNO3
So you look at the possible products (two of them) and see if they are soluble in water (usually these are aqueous solution). MgSO4 is soluble and HNO3 is soluble; therefore, no precipitate forms. How do you know about solubility. Here is a some simple rules that will tell you. It isn't an exhaustive set but it is good for beginners.
http://www.chem.vt.edu/RVGS/ACT/notes/solubility_rules.html

Your statement about products insoluble and no ppt forms bothers me; half is ok and half isn't. There is no ppt BUT the products are soluble(the fact they are soluble MEANS no ppt is formed). If they were insoluble then a ppt would have formed. Post back if this isn't clear.

Answer 2

OK. But great, I think I've interpreted my entire experiment incorrectly. So the magnesium and sulfuric acid combination is soluble, and no precipitate forms.
Now let's say I added sulfuric acid to calcium sulfate. Would this be soluble with no precipitate forming?
And adding sulfuric acid to Strontium Nitrate, would that be insoluble and precipitate forms?
Adding sulfuric acid to Barium nitrate- insoluble and precipitate forms?

Answer 3

OK. But great, I think I've interpreted my entire experiment incorrectly. So the magnesium and sulfuric acid combination is soluble, and no precipitate forms.
Now let's say I added sulfuric acid to calcium sulfate. Would this be soluble with no precipitate forming?
A little hard to say. CaSO4, the possible ppt, is in between being soluble and not soluble. Small quantities of CaSO4 will be soluble but larger quantities will ppt. So you will need to be the judge of what happened since you controlled the concentrations etc. If it is insoluble, then CaSO4 will ppt.

And adding sulfuric acid to Strontium Nitrate, would that be insoluble and precipitate forms?
Yes, a ppt of SrSO4 forms. It's white.

Adding sulfuric acid to Barium nitrate- insoluble and precipitate forms?
Yes, a white ppt of BaSO4 forms.

Answer 4

Thanks!