{"id":217733,"date":"2025-05-22T12:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=217733"},"modified":"2025-05-22T12:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:13:07","slug":"consider-the-acid-base-nature-of-the-salt-nh4c6h5coo-when-it-is-dissolved-in-wate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/22\/consider-the-acid-base-nature-of-the-salt-nh4c6h5coo-when-it-is-dissolved-in-wate\/","title":{"rendered":"Consider the acid-base nature of the salt NH4[C6H5COO], when it is dissolved in wate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider the acid-base nature of the salt NH4[C6H5COO], when it is dissolved in water. (1) What are the acid-base properties of the cation, NH4+? (2) What are the acid-base properties of the anion, C6H5COO? (3) Would an aqueous solution of NH4[C6H5COO] be acidic, basic or neutral?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-0-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To determine the acid-base nature of the salt <strong>NH\u2084[C\u2086H\u2085COO]<\/strong> (ammonium benzoate) in water, we analyze the acid-base properties of its <strong>cation (NH\u2084\u207a)<\/strong> and <strong>anion (C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">(1) <strong>Acid-base properties of the cation, NH\u2084\u207a:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ammonium ion (<strong>NH\u2084\u207a<\/strong>) is the conjugate acid of ammonia (<strong>NH\u2083<\/strong>), a weak base. Since NH\u2083 does not completely accept protons in water, its conjugate acid (NH\u2084\u207a) is a <strong>weak acid<\/strong>. It can donate a proton to water: NH\u2084\u207a+H\u2082O\u21ccNH\u2083+H\u2083O\u207a\\text{NH\u2084\u207a} + \\text{H\u2082O} \\rightleftharpoons \\text{NH\u2083} + \\text{H\u2083O\u207a}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus, <strong>NH\u2084\u207a is weakly acidic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">(2) <strong>Acid-base properties of the anion, C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Benzoate ion (<strong>C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b<\/strong>) is the conjugate base of <strong>benzoic acid (C\u2086H\u2085COOH)<\/strong>, which is a <strong>weak acid<\/strong>. Since weak acids do not fully donate their protons, their conjugate bases can accept protons from water: C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b+H\u2082O\u21ccC\u2086H\u2085COOH+OH\u207b\\text{C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b} + \\text{H\u2082O} \\rightleftharpoons \\text{C\u2086H\u2085COOH} + \\text{OH\u207b}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus, <strong>C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b is weakly basic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">(3) <strong>Would the solution be acidic, basic, or neutral?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, we compare the relative strengths of the weak acid (NH\u2084\u207a) and the weak base (C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b). This determines the pH nature of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NH\u2084\u207a<\/strong> has a <strong>Ka \u2248 5.6 \u00d7 10\u207b\u00b9\u2070<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>C\u2086H\u2085COOH<\/strong> has a <strong>Ka \u2248 6.3 \u00d7 10\u207b\u2075<\/strong>, so its conjugate base <strong>C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b<\/strong> has a <strong>Kb \u2248 Kw\/Ka \u2248 1.6 \u00d7 10\u207b\u00b9\u2070<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since <strong>Ka (NH\u2084\u207a) \u2248 5.6 \u00d7 10\u207b\u00b9\u2070<\/strong> is <strong>slightly greater than<\/strong> Kb of C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b, the <strong>acidic nature of NH\u2084\u207a dominates<\/strong> slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2705 <strong>Final Answer: The solution of NH\u2084[C\u2086H\u2085COO] in water is slightly acidic.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NH\u2084\u207a is a weak acid.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>C\u2086H\u2085COO\u207b is a weak base.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Because the weak acid is slightly stronger than the weak base, the net effect in water is the release of more H\u2083O\u207a than OH\u207b.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Therefore, the solution is <strong>slightly acidic<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-54.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-217734\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consider the acid-base nature of the salt NH4[C6H5COO], when it is dissolved in water. (1) What are the acid-base properties of the cation, NH4+? (2) What are the acid-base properties of the anion, C6H5COO? (3) Would an aqueous solution of NH4[C6H5COO] be acidic, basic or neutral? The Correct Answer and Explanation is: To determine the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}