phosphorus + chlorine -> ...?

[mindyroxx]

Hey I'm new to this site, but I am sooooo stuck and I need help!

 

What is the reaction of phosphorus with chlorine and how does the resulting product affect water?

I've been searching online and I get different answers everywhere

 

Also, why does Na form Na2O2 and/or Na2O with oxygen; not just one product?

I'm confused about sulfur + oxygen too... because it can form either SO2 or SO3...

[CaptainPanic]

I'm not so sure about phosphorous and chlorine, because I am not certain which compound will form (there is more than 1 answer). It probably depends on the conditions you use (temperature, pressure and concentrations of reactants)... but have you looked up Phosphorus pentachloride already? I got some answers on the wikipedia website... The other option is here.

 

Na2O2 is the normal product of O2 and Na. It's not stable in presence of water (and water is also present in air), so you will certainly never find it in nature. Here's some info about Na2O2. And here about Na2O (sodium oxide). The natural form of a combination of sodium and oxygen is actually NaOH (sodium hydroxide)... this forms in nature because water is everywhere on earth.

 

And yes, sulphur and oxygen also have more than 1 product. The most common one, SO2 originates from combustion (for example in engines)... but if you were to look up some info about cleaning exhaust gases, then you'll find that the sulphur compounds are grouped as SOx, meaning that more than 1 type of sulphur oxide is formed.

 

The same goes for NOx in exhausts.

 

The "worst" category is probably that of all compounds carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen can form together. These 4 make up most of all living matter, so you can see that they are able to form millions of different compounds

Edited August 7, 2008 by CaptainPanic

[hermanntrude]

i suspect this is homework. I'll move it to homework help. Apologies if it is just an enquiry