Question

How do we show the reaction of sulfurous acid with lithium hydroxide to from water and lithium sulfite?

Answer 1

Hint: The sulfurous acid is also known as sulfur dioxide solution or the dihydrogen trioxosulphate or the trioxo sulfuric acid. It is a liquid which is colourless but has a pungent smell on burning. It acts as a corrosive towards metals and tissues. It is considered as sulfur oxyacid and the tautomer of the sulfonic acid and also considered as the conjugate acid of the hydrogen sulfite.

Complete step by step solution:
The sulfurous acid is considered as a weak acid because it does not have the tendency to get completely dissociated into the hydrogen ion and the bisulfite ions. It is also not a monoprotic acid because it contains two hydrogen atoms in its molecule. it tends to get highly soluble in water. Now when it is reacted with lithium hydroxide it tends to form the water molecule and the lithium sulfite. The equation of the reaction is the following:
${{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}}+LiOH\to L{{i}_{2}}S{{O}_{3}}+{{H}_{2}}O$
Now the above equation is unbalanced as we have one lithium atom in the reactants while two lithium atoms in the product. So we will balance the above equation by adding 2 in the lithium hydroxide molecules that are two molecules of lithium hydroxide but then the hydrogen and oxygen atoms would also get increased so we will add two to the water molecules in the product that is two water molecules so that the equation is balanced. The balanced equation is the following:
\[{{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{3}}_{\left( aq \right)}+2LiO{{H}_{\left( s \right)}}\to L{{i}_{2}}S{{O}_{3}}_{\left( aq \right)}+2{{H}_{2}}{{O}_{\left( l \right)}}\]

Note: Lithium is the lightest of all the solid metals. The alloys of this metal helps in the manufacturing of many aircraft parts. It has the tendency to be reacted vigorously with water. It has a low density and low viscosity.