What Happens When Sulfur Dioxide is Dissolved

What happens when sulfur dioxide is dissolved in water?

When it comes to any chemical compounds getting dissolved in water, it is very much essential to consider the nature of the compound. If the compound is considered to be metal, it will form a metallic oxide when they come in contact with oxygen. These metallic oxides are considered to form bases when they react with the water. On the other hand, if the compounds are non-metals, they react with oxygen to form a non-metallic oxide, and these non-metallic oxides are very much different from that the metallic oxides because these non-metallic oxides are acidic in nature due to when they react with the water they form acids as the product. However, in this given condition, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is acidic in nature because sulfur is non-metal. Therefore, when sulfur dioxide reacts with water, they form sulfurous acid. This sulfurous acid can be represented in the chemical form as, (H₂SO₃  or H₂O.SO₂ ) This sulfurous acid is considered to be very much weak than that of the sulphuric acids (H₂SO₄). Moreover, this sulfurous acid is also unstable in nature when it comes to the comparison of sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid is considered to be a very good reactive agent, and it is found in the gaseous phase only. It is considered to be a species formed during acid rain due to the presence of sulfur dioxide. Moreover, these sulfurous acids are oxidized in order to form sulphuric acid or even the sulfates so as to perform several other chemical reactions over them. However, the overall chemical reaction that is taking place between the sulfur dioxide and the water can be represented as Sulfur dioxide + Water Sulfurous acid (SO₂+ H₂O H₂SO₃)