Many nitrate salts can be decomposed by heating. For example, blue, anhydrous copper(II) nitrate produces the gases nitrogen dioxide and oxygen when heated. In the laboratory, you find that a sample of this salt produced a 0.195-g mixture of gaseous NO2 and O2 with a total pressure of 725 mm Hg at 35 °C in a 125-mL flask (and black, solid CuO was left as a residue). What is the average molar mass of the gas mixture? What are the mole fractions of NO2 and O2 in the mixture? What amount of each gas is in the mixture? Do these amounts reflect the relative amounts of NO2 and O2 expected based on the balanced equation? Is it possible that the fact that some NO2 molecules combine to give N2O4 plays a role?
Heating copper(II) nitrate produces nitrogen dioxide and oxygen gas and leaves a residue of copper(II) oxide.
