Is ammonium hydroxide a strong or weak base and how do you know that?

Technically there is no such thing as ammonium hydroxide. NH3 gas (ammonia gas) dissolves easily in water and produces the NH4^+ and the OH^- from the reaction with water. It is a weak base because that reaction is not complete. The ionization constant for the reaction can be measured; it is 1.75E-5.

Thanks

it is a weaker base b/c each ion( after dissociation of the compound) has less charge density so solvent molecules will less denslly surrond the ions and hence they can recombine back so less ions will be there in solution and hence it is a weak electrolye

To determine if ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) is a strong or weak base, you can analyze its ionization constant, also known as the base dissociation constant (Kb). The Kb value represents the extent to which a base ionizes or dissociates in water.

In the case of ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH dissociates into NH4+ (ammonium ion) and OH- (hydroxide ion) in water. The ionization equation is as follows:

NH4OH (aq) → NH4+ (aq) + OH- (aq)

To determine if NH4OH is a strong or weak base, we need to calculate the Kb value and compare it to known values for strong and weak bases.

The Kb value of ammonium hydroxide is known to be approximately 1.75 x 10^-5. This value is relatively small compared to the Kb values of strong bases like sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH).

Strong bases have high Kb values (greater than 1), indicating that they completely dissociate into their respective ions in water. In contrast, weak bases have low Kb values (less than 1), indicating that they only partially dissociate.

Since the calculated Kb value for ammonium hydroxide is relatively low (1.75 x 10^-5), we can conclude that it is a weak base.