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Abigail Calder

How is it that the reaction of tin and nitric acid yields tin oxide?

Ayhan K. Isaacs  Follow

Tin reacts with dilute nitric acid giving Sn(NO3)2 & NH4 NO3 as products. Tin reacts with concentrated nitric acid containing a trace of water giving Metastannic acid (H2Sn5O11 ) which on ignition gives SnO2.

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Bob  Follow

The high positive charge on Sn makes forming a covalent bond to O more stable than the ionic crystal formation. This is common with most metals. Consider MnO2, PbO2, CrO2 even the nonmetals like NO2, CO2, ClO2. these latter weakly react with water to form the protonic acids.

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