Achieve week 2 question 6

[KatieFrancisco1F]

Can someone help me figure out how to know if these salts were derived from strong acids or strong bases? For instance, NH4ClO4. I can't figure out how to separate this out to know if its from an acid or base. The Cl makes me think that it would be acidic and the O4 and H4 make me think basic. Please help with how to set it up

[Kaleigh Olla 1L]

It helps to memorize the strong acids and bases. If something is derived from a strong base, then it is a weak acid, and vice versa. In this case, when I see NH4+, I automatically think of the weak base, ammonia (NH3). I find it easiest to write up the equation. When combined with water, NH4ClO4 will dissociate into NH3 & H30+. Once you have the equation, you can see that it is derived from a weak base.

[Melody_Tapia_1J]

Try splitting the compound into two parts. A part that has a positive charge,
and the other a negative charge,

The is the result of the weak base , this means it is a strong conjugate acid, making it acidic.

We then could look at and see if it is the last part of any strong acid. And it does, for the strong acid . This means is a weak conjugate base, making it not play major impact on the solution.

Therefore, , is acidic