Identify the spectator ions in this reaction:

[tex]\[ 2H^+ + 2NO_3^- + Ca^{2+} + 2OH^- \rightarrow Ca^{2+} + 2NO_3^- + 2H_2O \][/tex]

A. [tex]\( H^+ \)[/tex] and [tex]\( OH^- \)[/tex]

B. [tex]\( Ca^{2+} \)[/tex] and [tex]\( NO_3^- \)[/tex]

C. [tex]\( H^+ \)[/tex] and [tex]\( Ca^{2+} \)[/tex]



Answer :

To identify the spectator ions in a chemical reaction, we need to follow the steps of identifying all the ions involved and then determining which ions remain unchanged throughout the reaction.

Given reaction:
[tex]\[ 2 H ^{+} + 2 NO _3^{-} + Ca ^{2+} + 2 OH ^{-} \rightarrow Ca ^{2+} + 2 NO _3^{-} + 2 H _2 O \][/tex]

1. Identify all the ions on both sides of the reaction:
- Reactants: [tex]\(2 H^+\)[/tex], [tex]\(2 NO_3^-\)[/tex], [tex]\(Ca^{2+}\)[/tex], [tex]\(2 OH^-\)[/tex]
- Products: [tex]\(Ca^{2+}\)[/tex], [tex]\(2 NO_3^-\)[/tex], [tex]\(2 H_2O\)[/tex]

2. Determine which ions remain the same on both sides of the equation:
- [tex]\(Ca^{2+}\)[/tex] appears on both the reactants' and products' sides without any change.
- [tex]\(2 NO_3^{-}\)[/tex] also appears unchanged on both the reactants' and products' sides.

3. Identify the species that change during the reaction:
- [tex]\(2 H^+\)[/tex] and [tex]\(2 OH^-\)[/tex] react to form [tex]\(2 H_2O\)[/tex].

The ions that are unchanged and appear on both sides of the reaction without alteration are the spectator ions.

Therefore, the spectator ions in this reaction are [tex]\(Ca^{2+}\)[/tex] and [tex]\(NO_3^{-}\)[/tex].

So the correct answer is:

[tex]$Ca ^{2+}$[/tex] and [tex]$NO _3^{-}$[/tex]