Homework Help: chemistry

Posted by vivian on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 7:11pm.

Consider the ionization constants hypochlorous acid (HOCl) : Ka = 3.5 × 10−8; ammonia (NH3) : Kb = 1.8×10−5. A solution of ammonium hypochlorite (NH4OCl) is
1. acidic, because the cation hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the anion.
2. basic, because the anion hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the cation.
3. basic, because the cation hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the anion.
4. neutral, because the cation and the anion hydrolyze to the same extent.
5. acidic, because the cation and the anion hydrolyze to the same extent.
6. acidic, because the anion hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the cation.
7. basic, because the cation and the anion hydrolyze to the same extent.
8. neutral, because the cation hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the anion.
9. neutral, because the anion hydrolyzes to a greater extent than the cation.
10. neutral, because NH4OCl is a weak base/weak acid salt.

chemistry - DrBob222, Friday, May 13, 2011 at 7:49pm
Why don't you calculate the K for the anion and cation?
OCl^- + HOH ==> HOCl + OH^-
Kb for OCl^- = Kw/Ka for HOCl = ??

NH4^+ + H2O ==> H2O^+ + NH3
Ka for NH4^= Kw/Kb for NH3 = ??
The larger K for the cation or anion will be the one that predominates.
I can't find it on the web nor in any of my most recent texts but when I took quant they taught me that the salt of a weak acid and weak base had (H^+) = sqrt(KwKa/Kb)
You can read about NH4ClO in aq soln here, along with the answer.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbases/a/aa110204a.htm

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