The Contact Process is the primary industrial method for manufacturing concentrated sulfuric acid. I — d and f Block Elements Chemistry Question
Question
The Contact Process is the primary industrial method for manufacturing concentrated sulfuric acid. It critically relies on a specific transition metal oxide catalyst ($V_2O_5$) to drastically lower the activation energy for the oxidation of sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) to sulfur trioxide ($SO_3$). What is the exact group number in the modern IUPAC periodic table of the specific transition metal central to this catalyst?
💡 Solution & Explanation
The catalyst utilized in the Contact process is Vanadium(V) oxide, $V_2O_5$. The transition metal is Vanadium ($V$). Vanadium has an atomic number of $23$ and a ground state electronic configuration of $[Ar] 3d^3 4s^2$. Because it contains $5$ valence electrons ($3$ in the $d$ -subshell and $2$ in the $s$ -subshell), Vanadium is located strictly in Group $5$ of the modern periodic table.