Copper is changed to copper(II) ions by nitric acid according to the following equation:

4HNO3 + Cu → Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO2 + 2H2O

How many moles of HNO3 must react to produce 0.961 mol of NO2?

.961/2= ?/4

so 2*.961 moles

Looking at the balanced chemical equation:

4HNO3 + Cu → Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO2 + 2H2O

We can see that 4 moles of HNO3 produce 2 moles of NO2.

We can set up a proportion to find the number of moles of HNO3 needed to produce 0.961 mol of NO2:

(4 moles HNO3 / 2 moles NO2) = (x moles HNO3 / 0.961 moles NO2)

Using cross-multiplication, we can solve for x:

4x = 2 * 0.961
4x = 1.922
x = 1.922 / 4
x ≈ 0.481 moles

Therefore, approximately 0.481 moles of HNO3 must react to produce 0.961 mol of NO2.

To determine the number of moles of HNO3 required to produce 0.961 mol of NO2, we need to use the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation.

From the balanced chemical equation:
4HNO3 + Cu → Cu(NO3)2 + 2NO2 + 2H2O

We can see that for every 4 moles of HNO3, we produce 2 moles of NO2.

Therefore, we can set up a ratio:
4 moles HNO3 : 2 moles NO2

To find how many moles of HNO3 are required for 0.961 mol of NO2, we can use the following proportion:

4 moles HNO3 / 2 moles NO2 = x moles HNO3 / 0.961 mol NO2

Cross-multiplying:
4 * 0.961 = 2 * x
3.844 = 2x

Dividing both sides by 2:
x = 1.922 moles HNO3

Therefore, to produce 0.961 mol of NO2, 1.922 moles of HNO3 are required.