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]
