Peroxide and Superoxide Reactions - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep

• Peroxides react with water to produce hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, while superoxides also produce oxygen gas in addition to hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide.
• Barium peroxide reacting with water forms barium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, requiring a stoichiometric balance with coefficients.
• Potassium superoxide reacts with water to yield potassium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, and oxygen gas, with specific stoichiometric adjustments for balance.
• When reacting with acids, peroxides form a salt and hydrogen peroxide, whereas superoxides produce a salt, hydrogen peroxide, and oxygen.
• Sodium peroxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce a corresponding salt and hydrogen peroxide, with necessary adjustments for stoichiometric balance.
• Potassium superoxide reacts with nitric acid to form potassium nitrate, hydrogen peroxide, and oxygen, requiring specific stoichiometric coefficients for balance.

Reaction with Water

Now when it comes to the reaction with water, we're going to say that peroxides react with water like oxides, but produce hydrogen peroxide as an additional product. Now remember, we know that when oxides react with water, we're going to create hydroxide, something that's basic. But with peroxides, we add hydrogen peroxide as well.

So here we have barium peroxide reacting with liquid water. It produces what we expect, barium hydroxide, but because it peroxide ion is a little bit more complex than the oxide ion, we make hydrogen peroxide as well. To balance this, we put a 2 here for superoxides, they produce hydrogen peroxide as an additional product, but also oxygen O2.

So here for our superoxides we have potassium superoxide reacting with liquid water. We produce our potassium hydroxide plus our hydrogen peroxide plus oxygen gas to balance it. We put a 2 here, here and here.

So just remember, if you can recall what we did for oxide reactions, peroxide reactions and superoxide reactions are the same with a few additional products at the end. So keep that in mind when we're dealing with peroxides and superoxides.

Peroxide and Superoxide Reactions Example

Here it says complete imbalance the following equation. So what is that? Well, this is sodium peroxide because if we broke it back down into its representative elements or representative ions, we have sodium ion and the peroxide ion.

Remember, when a peroxide reacts with water, we're going to create our hydroxide. So, sodium hydroxide and what else? Hydrogen peroxide, H₂O₂. All we have to do now is balance it out. So we throw a 2 here and we throw a 2 here.

Doing that will give us an overall balance equation with two sodiums on both sides, 4 oxygens on both sides, 4 hydrogens on both sides. So this would be our final balance equation.

Write a balanced equation for the reaction of rubidium superoxide with water.

• A. 2 RbO₂(s) + 2 H₂O(l) → 2 RbOH(aq) + H₂O₂(aq) + O₂(g)
• B. 4 RbO(s) + 2 H₂O(l) → 4 RbOH(aq) + O₂(g)
• C. 2 RbO₂(s) + 2 H₂O(l) → 2 Rb(OH)₂(aq) + 2 H₂O(aq)
• D. 6 Rb₂O(s) + 4 H₂O(l) → 12 Rb(s) + 4 H₂O₂(aq) + O₂(g)

Reaction with Acids

When it comes to the reaction with acids, we're going to say peroxides react with acids to produce hydrogen peroxide instead of water. Superoxides produce oxygen in addition to hydrogen peroxide. So if we take a look here, we have our peroxides, We have sodium peroxide reacting with hydrochloric acid. It forms our salt, and because it's a peroxide, it also produces hydrogen peroxide.

To balance it, we put a 2 here and 2 here. With superoxides we're reacting with an acid, again in the form of nitric acid. Now we produce our salt or ionic compound in the form of potassium nitrate and we produce hydrogen peroxide. And because it is a superoxide, we also make oxygen gas balancing this out. We put a 2 here, here and here.

So this represents the types of reactions that occur when we have a peroxide or superoxide reacting with an acid.

Peroxide and Superoxide Reactions Example

Here we say complete and balance the following reaction. Here we have cesium superoxide reacting with an acid. So remember, when a superoxide is reacting, we're going to make our salt, which would be cesium sulfate. Plus, we make hydrogen peroxide, and because it's a superoxide, we'd also make oxygen gas.

Now here, we'd have to balance this out. So let's see. We have two cesiums here, so we put a 2 here. We have one sulfate, 1 sulfate. We have two hydrogens here, 2 hydrogens here, and we have 4 oxygens 2:00 and 2:00, and we have 4 oxygens here. 2*2 is 4, so this will represent our balanced equation between the reaction of cesium superoxide and sulfuric acid.

Write a balanced equation for the reaction of barium peroxide with hydrochloric acid.

• A. BaO(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → BaCl₂(aq) + H₂O(aq)
• B. 2 Ba₂O(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → 2 Ba₂Cl(aq) + H₂O₂(aq)
• C. Ba₂O₂(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → 2 BaCl(aq) + H₂O₂(aq)
• D. BaO₂(s) + 2 HCl(aq) → BaCl₂(aq) + H₂O₂(aq)