Question
Hello, I have a question about something we learned in chemistry today.
We've been going over Ka/Kb table values, and using them to determine if a solution is acidic, basic or neutral.
One of the compounds (in aqueous solution) are NH4OCl (aq), which is supposedly basic. Can someone explain why that is?
We've been going over Ka/Kb table values, and using them to determine if a solution is acidic, basic or neutral.
One of the compounds (in aqueous solution) are NH4OCl (aq), which is supposedly basic. Can someone explain why that is?
Answers
DrBob222
For the salt of a weak acid and a weak base, (H^+) = sqrt(KwKa/Kb). For NH4OCl, that is about 4 x 10^-9 or pK about 8.4 (which is slightly basic). What it boils down to, if you look at the equation, is the Kw part will give neutral. If Ka = Kb, the solution is neutral. If Ka>Kb the solution is acid, if Ka<Kb, the solution is basic.