Net Ionic Equations

[David Chibukhchian 2G]

Hey guys, I was wondering whether or not we had to know how to write net ionic equations for reactions with acids and bases. It's a topic that I don't really understand well and so was wondering whether I should review it. If it is something that we should know, does anyone have any tips on how to write them down when dealing with acids and bases? Any information would really help, thanks!

[Emily Ding 1J]

I don't think we have to write them. Like Dr. Lavelle said, you can include the spectator ions like Na or Cl if you'd like because it's a more complete equation anyways, but if you happen to know that an ion doesn't affect the pH you can just leave it out for simplicity. I don't think we directly learned net ionic equations though, so you should be fine.

[Yasmina Zaarour 1G]

I don't think we will be directly asked to write them, since we didn't really go over it, but the relevant ones for acid/base reactions involving salts are usually the group 1 cations and the halogen. Compounds containing these two are soluble in water, so the ion dissociates into cation+anion, and depending on their conjugate acid/base strength, might not be strong enough to react with water to affect pH, so they would remain as an ion on the right side of the equation. Therefore,they would cancel, and you will be left with the net ionic equation.

[Keeryth Sandhu 1H]

I don't think we have to write them since we didn't go over it in lecture

[David Chibukhchian 2G]

Okay, that definitely makes sense. I think I have a better understanding now that Dr. Lavelle explained the example with Na+ when writing equations with acids and bases, I just wanted to make sure if we had to practice them for the final or not. That really helped, thank you all!