As an environmental scientist, you may be asked to help revive lakes that have been acidified by acid rain. Calcium carbonate (limestone) is commonly used for this application. It can neutralize the acids (HNO3 and H2SO4) in acidic lakes by a process called liming.
You are asked by local community leaders to explain how this will work. To do so, you must provide the ionic and net ionic equations for the reactions between calcium carbonate and HNO3 and between calcium carbonate and H2SO4 in your report.
- Write down the ionic and net ionic equations for the two reactions.
- If the lake contains 1500 kg of HNO3 and 2000 kg of H2SO4, how much calcium carbonate must be added to neutralize the lake?