Question

The value of x here is,
$\text{N}{\text{a}}_{\text{2}}\text{C}{\text{O}}_{\text{3}}+\text{xHCl}\to 2\text{NaCl + C}{\text{O}}_{\text{2}}\text{ + }{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}$.

Answer 1

Hint: Sodium bicarbonate reacts with hydrochloric acid to form sodium chloride, water and carbon dioxide as the products and this reaction takes place stoichiometrically depending upon the number of atoms present in the molecules of the reactants involved.

Complete answer:
To find the value of “x” in the above reaction, we need to balance the reaction. A reaction is said to be balanced when the number of atoms in the molecules of the reactants and the products are all balanced. It can be seen from the reaction that there are two atoms of sodium, one atom of carbon, three atoms of oxygen, and ‘x’ atoms of hydrogen and chlorine on the reactant side, while in the product side, there are two atoms of sodium, two atoms of chlorine, two atoms of hydrogen, one atom of carbon, and three atoms of oxygen.
So, the reactant and the product have only differences in the number of hydrogen and chlorine atoms. As the number of hydrogen and the number of chlorine atoms in the product side is two each, therefore the value of x in the reactant side is 2.
Therefore, the balanced equation can be written as:
$\text{N}{\text{a}}_{\text{2}}\text{C}{\text{O}}_{\text{3}}+2\text{HCl}\to 2\text{NaCl + C}{\text{O}}_{\text{2}}\text{ + }{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}$

Note:
Balancing a chemical equation is based on the principle of atom conservation which states that the total number of atoms of each element in the reactant must be equal to the number of the atoms of the products and this law is based on the principle of conservation of mass.