Zinc reduces nitrate to ammonium ion in acidic solution: Zn + NO3^- + H^+ -> Zn^2+ + NH4^+ + H2O. Balance with the smallest whole numbers and give the sum of all coefficients (reactants and products) as an integer.

JEE Main levelNumerical answerDifficulty 2 of 3rx080

Zinc reduces nitrate to ammonium ion in acidic solution: $Zn + NO X_{3} X^{-} + H X^{+} Zn X^{2 +} + NH X_{4} X^{+} + H X_{2} O$ . Balance with the smallest whole numbers and give the sum of all coefficients (reactants and products) as an integer.

Numerical answer type, tolerance 0.1.

N goes from +5 to -3 (gain of 8 electrons) and Zn loses 2, so Zn :

NO X_{3} X^{-}

is 4 : 1. Charge balance then needs 10

H X^{+}

and O balance gives 3

H X_{2} O

4 Zn + NO X_{3} X^{-} + 10 H X^{+} 4 Zn X^{2 +} + NH X_{4} X^{+} + 3 H X_{2} O

. The sum of coefficients is 23.