Acid, Base &

Salt
By: Moesha Haye
Amphoteric Substances
Substances which can act as either acids or bases are called amphoteric.

Examples of amphoteric substances are oxides and hydroxides of aluminium, zinc

and lead. These are amphoteric substances because they can react with both
acids and strong alkalis.

Examples of reactions that aluminium and zinc undergoes:

Reaction with an acid: Al(OH)3(s) + 3HCl(aq) → AlCl3(aq) + 3H2O(aq)

Reaction with a strong alkali: NaOH(aq) + Al(OH)3(s) → NaAlO2(aq) + 2H2O(l)

Reaction with an acid: ZnO(s) + 2HCl(aq) → ZnCl2(aq) + H2O(aq)

Reaction with a strong alkali: NaOH(aq) + ZnO(s) → Na2ZnO2(aq) + H2O(l)

Classification of
oxides
Oxides can be classified as acidic, basic,
neutral or amphoteric.
Acidic oxides reacts with water
to form an acid and react with
alkalis to form salt and water.

Example:

SO3(g) + H20(l) → H2SO4(aq)

2NaOH(aq) + CO2(g) → Na2CO3(aq) +

H2O(l)

NB: Acidic oxides are oxides of non-

metals
Basic oxides react with acids
to form a salt and water.
Example:

CuO(s) + 2HNO3(aq) → Cu(NO3)2(aq) + H2O(l)

A few basic oxides are alkalis, i.e. they react with water
to form hydroxides, e.g. potassium oxide, sodium oxide
and calcium oxide.

Example:

Na2O(s) + H2O(l) → 2NaOH(aq)

Amphoteric oxides react with
acids and strong alkalis,

Example:

Al2O3(s) + 6HCl(aq) → 2AlCl3(aq) + 3H2O(l)

NaOH(aq) + Al2O3(s) → 2NaAlO2(aq) + H2O(l)

Amphoteric oxides are the oxides of aluminium, zinc and lead.

Neutral Oxides
Neutral oxides do not react with acids or alkalis. These are oxides of
certain non-metals, e.g. carbon monoxide (CO) nitrogen monoxide (NO)
and dinitrogen oxide (N2O)
 pH and
Indicators
The pH scale, which ranges from 0 to 14, is a measure of
how acidic or alkaline a solution in water is. Aqueous
solutions with a pH of less than 7 are considered to be
acidic whereas those with a pH of greater than 7 are
considered to be alkaline. An aqueous solution with a pH
of 7 is defined as a neutral solution. Distilled water has a
pH of 7.
The pH scale/ Universal indicator
paper
Measuring pH
There are two main methods that are used in the laboratory to measure the pH of
a solution; one is the universal indicator and the other is a pH meter.

A pH meter is an electronic instrument used to measure the pH of a solution. A

pH meter consist of a measuring probe connected to an electronic meter which
displays the pH reading.
Cont’
Universal indicator, which has a range of colours depending on the pH of the
solution, can either be in paper form, known as universal indicator paper or a
solution, known as universal indicator solution.

A pH meter is a more accurate method for determining the pH of a solution than

the universal indicator method.
Acid- alkali indicators
There are other indicators which tends to have one colour in an acidic solution and
another colour in an alkaline solution. Litmus is an example of this type of indicator.
Litmus paper will change to red in an acidic solution and blue in an alkaline solution.
The acid or alkali needs to be in solution to change the colour of the indicator paper, or
the indicator paper can be dipped in distilled water before using it.

There are other indicators which are not used to determine the pH of a solution, but are
used in neutralization experiments to indicate the neutralization point.

Methyl orange and phenolphthalein are two examples of this type of indicator. Their
respective colours in an acidic and an alkaline solution are given in the table below.
Indicator Colour in an acidic Colour in an alkaline
solution solution

Methyl orange red yellow

phenolphthalein colourless pink

Salts
When acids react with other compounds and the
hydrogen ions are replaced by metal ions ammonium
ions, a salt is formed.

Examples of reactions which produce salts, where the

acid is monobasic are:

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) → NaCl (aq) + H2O(l)

PbO (s) + 2HNO3 (aq) → Pb(NO3)2 (aq) + H2O(l)

In these two examples, all the hydrogen ions in the

acid were replaced. The salts formed, sodium chloride
and lead (ll) nitrate are known as normal salts.
Cont’
When a dibasic acid is used to prepare a salt, there are two possible reactions:

1. 2KOH (aq) + H2SO4 (aq) → K2SO4 (aq) + 2H2O(l)

2. KOH (aq) + H2SO4 (aq) → KHSO4 (aq) + H2O (l)

In reaction (1) all of the hydrogen ions were replaced. Therefore the salt
formed, potassium sulphate (K2SO4 ) is a normal salt.

In reaction (2) only one of the hydrogen ions was replaced. We say that the
hydrogen ions were only replaced partially. The salt formed in this type of
reaction is known as an acid salt. Potassium hydrogen sulphate (KHSO4) is
therefore an acid salt.
Phosphoric acid has three replaceable hydrogen ions, therefore can formed a
normal salt, e.g. sodium phosphate (Na3PO4) and two acid salts, e.g. sodium
hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) and sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4).
Preparation of Salts
Deciding on the preparation
method

It is important to be aware of the solubility of the salt

that is to be produced and the solubility of the
compounds used to prepare the salt.

Methods of preparing a soluble salt differs from method

used to prepare an insoluble salt.
 Preparation of Insoluble
salts Method:
Insoluble salts can be prepared by reacting
two solutions, one containing the cations of 1. Choose two solutions, one
the salt being prepared and the other containing the cation and
the other containing the
containing the anions. This is known as ionic
anion.
precipitation. In an ionic precipitation
2. Mix the two solutions to
reaction, the two soluble salts in solution form the insoluble salt as a
reacts to form an insoluble salt and a precipitate.
soluble salt. 3. Filter the mixture and collect
Example: BaCl2(aq) + Na2SO4(aq)→ BaSO4(s) +
the precipitate as the
2NaCl(aq)
residue.
4. Wash the residue with
Can you write the ionic equation? distilled water and leave to
dry.
Preparation of soluble salts

There are 3 main methods for preparing soluble

salts:
● Direct Combination
● The reaction of an acid with a metal, an
insoluble base or an insoluble carbonate.
● The reaction between an acid and a soluble
base (alkali)
Direct Combination

Salts composed of two simple ions such as metal chlorides can be

prepared by reacting two elements, a metal and a nonmetal,
directly with each other. The metal supplies the cations and the
nonmetal supplies the anion.

The preparation of anhydrous aluminium chloride by burning

aluminium in chlorine gas is an example.

2Al(s) + 3Cl2(g) → 2AlCl3(s)

 Reactions with an acid

Soluble salts can be prepared by the reaction between In these reactions, the final product will
an acid and: only be a pure solution of the required
1. A reactive metal salt in water if the reaction has reached
completion and no acid remains. To
E.g Mg(s) + 2HCl(aq) → MgCl2(aq) + H2(g)
ensure that the reaction has reached
2. An insoluble base completion and that the salt formed is
pure, the following general method is
E.g CuO(s) + H2SO4(aq) → CuSO4(aq) + H2O(l)
used:
3. An insoluble carbonate
1. Choose the appropriate metal,
E.g CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) → CaCl2(aq) + H2O(l) + CO2(g) insoluble carbonate or insoluble
base to provide the cations and the
appropriate acid to supply the
anions.
 Method Cont’

2. Place the acid in a beaker and add the metal, carbonate or base until
excess solid remains, and effervescence stops if a metal or carbonate is
used. Heating may be required to speed up the reaction when using metal
or base.

3. Dip a piece of blue litmus paper into the solution to ensure all the acid
has reacted; the litmus should remain blue.

4. Remove the excess, unreacted solid by filtration.

5. Collect the filtrate and evaporate the water. If a hydrated salt is required,
evaporate some of the water and leave the concentrated solution to
crystallize.
 Reaction between an
acid and a solubleMethod:
alkali
1. Measure a fixed volume of aqueous alkali
Potassium, sodium and ammonium salts are
using a pipette, run it into a conical flask
prepared by reacting an acid with an aqueous
and add a few drops of indicator solution.
alkali. In this preparation method, the acid is
2. Place the acid in a burette and take an
added to the alkali and the reaction reaches
initial burette reading.
completion when the solution is just neutral.
3. Add the acid to the alkali until the neutral
The colour of an indicator is used to
point is reached.
determine the neutralization point.
4. Take the final burette reading and
The technique used to determine the exact determine the volumes of acid added.
volume of acid needed to neutralise a fixed 5. Repeat the titration until you have three
volume of aqueous alkali is known as a volumes of acid within 0.1cm3 of each
titration. other. Average these to determine the
volume of acid needed.
6. Add this volume of acid to the fixed
volume of alkali without the indicator and
evaporate the water from the solution.
Preparation of acid salts

When sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4) react, there are two
possibilities:

The formation of a normal salt:

2NaOH(aq) + H2SO4(aq) → Na2SO4(aq) + 2H2O(l)

The formation of an acid salt:

NaOH(aq) + H2SO4(aq) → NaHSO4(aq) + H2O(l)

 Cont’
Looking at the balanced equation for the two reactions:

● To produce a normal salt, the ratio of NaOH to H2SO4 is 2: 1

● To produce an acid salt, the ratio of NaOH to H2SO4 is 1: 1

If the concentrations of the sulphuric acid and sodium hydroxide are the same, we
can apply this ratio to the volumes.

For example, if we use a 1 mol dm3 NaOH solution and a 1 mol dm3 H2SO4 solution:

● To produce a normal salt, we would react 50cm3 NaOH with 25cm3 H2SO4, i.e
we would double the volume of NaOH
● To produce an acid salt, we would react 50cm3 NaOH with 50cm3 H2SO4, i.e we
would equal volumes of NaOH and H2SO4