Nitric acid gold purity. Being a powerful oxidizing agent, nitric acid reacts violently with many non-metallic compounds, and the reactions may be explosive. Depending on the acid concentration, temperature and the reducing agent involved, the end products can be variable. Reaction takes place with all metals except the noble metals series and certain alloys. As a general rule, oxidizing reactions occur primarily with the concentrated acid, favoring the formation of nitrogen dioxide (NO). However, the powerful oxidizing properties of nitric acid are thermodynamic in nature, but sometimes its oxidation reactions are rather kinetically non-favored. The presence of small amounts of nitrous acid
Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory to become its conjugate base, A. The base, B, can accept a proton to become its conjugate acid, HB. Most acid-base reactions are fast so that the components of the reaction are usually in dynamic equilibrium with each other. Consider the following acid–base reaction: Acetic acid, CHCOOH, is an acid because it donates a proton to water (HO) and becomes its conjugate base, the acetate ion (CHCOO). HO is a base because it accepts a proton from CHCOOH and becomes its conjugate acid, the hydronium ion, (HO). The reverse of an acid-base reaction is also an acid-base reaction, between the