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Hello,

Is there a reaction when NaNO3 is added to some H2O? Or does it just dissolves?

Please explain why, thanks!

The reaction is the sodum nitrate breaks up in to ions, energy is exchanged.

The solid NaNO3 is held together by the crystal lattice energy. The Na-NO3 is an ionic bond. When the polar water molecules of water move to the crystal, the positive end of the H2O molecules is attracted to the NO3^- part of the NaNO3 and the negative end of the H2O molecule is attracted to the Na^+. The Na^+ becomes hydrated as Na^+(aq) and the NO3^- becomes hydrated as NO3^-(aq). You might write the equation as

NaNO3(s) + H2O(l) ==> Na^+(aq) + NO3^-(aq)
There are many articles and some movies on the internet that talk about this process. You can google to read more about it.

Hi DrBob222,

Can I express it in this form?
NaNO3(s) + H2O(l) ==> NaNO3(aq)

Yes, and that might be called an intermediate step, with the final step showing the hydratred ions.

How about if I put the "H2O" above the arrow, and wrote NaNO3(aq) as my answer, would that be correct?

Yes.

Thanks!