Asked by sstt

The carbonate ion is a polyatomic ion having empirical formula CO32–. Salts containing the carbonate ion are of great use both industrially and mineralogically. The reaction that takes place with water is shown below:
H2O() + CO32–(aq)  HCO3–(aq) + OH–(aq)

Which of the following statements about the above reaction is correct?


a. HCO3– (aq) is the conjugate acid of CO32–(aq)
b. HCO3– (aq) is the conjugate base of CO32–(aq)
c. CO32– (aq) is the conjugate acid of HCO32–(aq)
d. CO32–(aq) is the conjugate base of H2CO3 (aq)
e. HCO3–(aq) is the conjugate acid of H2O()

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Answer: a.

Reason: In the reaction CO3^2- accepts a proton from H2O to form HCO3^- (so CO3^2- is a Brønsted base and HCO3^- is its conjugate acid). The other conjugate pair in the equation is H2O (acid) and OH^- (conjugate base).