{"id":29550,"date":"2025-06-21T06:01:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T06:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=29550"},"modified":"2025-06-21T06:01:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T06:01:32","slug":"are-the-following-salts-acidic-basic-or-neutral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/are-the-following-salts-acidic-basic-or-neutral\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the following salts acidic, basic, or neutral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are the following salts acidic, basic, or neutral? Explain your answer. Write chemical equations and show appropriate calculations. KBr NH4CN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine whether a salt is acidic<\/strong>, basic<\/strong>, or neutral<\/strong> in aqueous solution, we analyze the properties of its cation<\/strong> and anion<\/strong>, especially their behavior as conjugate acids or bases of strong or weak acids\/bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1. KBr (Potassium Bromide)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Identify the ions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • K\u207a (potassium ion)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Br\u207b (bromide ion)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Step 2: Analyze the ions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • K\u207a<\/strong> comes from KOH<\/strong>, a strong base<\/strong> \u2192 does not hydrolyze<\/strong> (no effect on pH).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Br\u207b<\/strong> comes from HBr<\/strong>, a strong acid<\/strong> \u2192 does not hydrolyze<\/strong> (no effect on pH).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Conclusion:<\/strong> Neither ion reacts with water. The solution remains neutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Chemical equation in water:<\/strong>KBr (s)\u2192K\u207a (aq)+Br\u207b (aq)\\text{KBr (s)} \\rightarrow \\text{K\u207a (aq)} + \\text{Br\u207b (aq)}KBr (s)\u2192K\u207a (aq)+Br\u207b (aq)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Since neither ion affects pH:
      KBr is a neutral salt.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      2. NH\u2084CN (Ammonium Cyanide)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Step 1: Identify the ions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • NH\u2084\u207a (ammonium ion)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • CN\u207b (cyanide ion)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Step 2: Analyze the ions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • NH\u2084\u207a<\/strong> is the conjugate acid<\/strong> of NH\u2083<\/strong>, a weak base<\/strong> \u2192 acts as a weak acid<\/strong>, donates H\u207a.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • CN\u207b<\/strong> is the conjugate base<\/strong> of HCN<\/strong>, a weak acid<\/strong> \u2192 acts as a weak base<\/strong>, accepts H\u207a.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          So, we must compare the strengths of NH\u2084\u207a (acid) and CN\u207b (base).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Given:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • pKa of NH\u2084\u207a \u2248 9.25<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • pKa of HCN = 9.21<\/strong>, so Kb of CN\u207b<\/strong> can be calculated using:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            pKb=14\u2212pKa=14\u22129.21=4.79\\text{pKb} = 14 – \\text{pKa} = 14 – 9.21 = 4.79pKb=14\u2212pKa=14\u22129.21=4.79<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            NH\u2084\u207a has a weaker acidity<\/strong> than CN\u207b’s basicity (since CN\u207b has a lower pKb \u2192 stronger base than NH\u2084\u207a is an acid).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Conclusion:<\/strong> The base (CN\u207b) is stronger than the acid (NH\u2084\u207a), so the solution will be basic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Chemical equations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            • NH\u2084\u207a + H\u2082O \u21cc NH\u2083 + H\u2083O\u207a (acidic)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • CN\u207b + H\u2082O \u21cc HCN + OH\u207b (basic)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Net effect:<\/strong> More OH\u207b produced \u2192 NH\u2084CN is a basic salt.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n\n\n\n

              Final Answers:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                \n
              • KBr:<\/strong> Neutral<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • NH\u2084CN:<\/strong> Basic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                These conclusions are based on the conjugate acid-base behavior of the salt\u2019s ions in water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Are the following salts acidic, basic, or neutral? Explain your answer. Write chemical equations and show appropriate calculations. KBr NH4CN The Correct Answer and Explanation is: To determine whether a salt is acidic, basic, or neutral in aqueous solution, we analyze the properties of its cation and anion, especially their behavior as conjugate acids or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29552,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550\/revisions\/29552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}