A neutralization reaction between an acid and a base produced the salt Na2CO3. What acid and what base participated in this reaction?
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Sorry about just asking without showing work or anything, but I don't really get the concept of this and how I should go about doing this problem.
You don't give us much to go on.
NaOH + H2CO3 will make Na2CO3 + H2O
No problem! Let's break down the problem and go step by step.
In a neutralization reaction, an acid and a base react to form a salt and water. The salt formed contains the positive ion from the base and the negative ion from the acid.
To determine the acid and the base involved in this neutralization reaction, we need to identify the ions present in the salt Na2CO3.
The compound Na2CO3 can be split into two ions: Na+ (sodium ion) and CO3^2- (carbonate ion).
Since Na+ is a cation, it came from a base. The base must have been NaOH, which is a strong base and dissociates completely in water to form Na+ and OH- ions.
Now, for the anion CO3^2-, it came from an acid. To identify the acid, we need to determine what acid produces CO3^2-. The carbonate ion CO3^2- is usually derived from the weak acid, carbonic acid (H2CO3), which is an intermediate formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in water. However, carbonic acid is unstable and readily decomposes, so it usually exists in only small amounts.
In this case, the carbonate ion CO3^2- could have been formed from a reaction between an acid and a bicarbonate (HCO3^-). Therefore, the acid involved in this neutralization reaction could be bicarbonate acid or hydrogen carbonate (H2CO3) or an equivalent compound like sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).
So, in summary, the acid that likely reacted with the base (NaOH) to produce the salt Na2CO3 is bicarbonate acid (H2CO3) or an equivalent compound like sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).
Remember, the process of identifying acids and bases in neutralization reactions involves knowledge of common ion pairs and ion dissociation. In cases where the given information is limited, considering the most common acid-base pairs can be helpful.