Acid, Basic, Neutral Salts

[Michelle Argueta 1E]

How do you determine if salts are acidic, basic, or neutral? For example, KCl.

[N Kanuri 2E]

A salt is acidic if the cation of the salt forms a strong acid and the anion does not form a strong base. (e.x. NH₄Br)

A salt is basic if the anion of the salt forms a strong base and the cation does not form a strong acid. (e.x. K₂CO₃)

A salt is neutral if the cation of the salt forms a strong acid and the anion forms a strong base. (e.x. KCl)

[Alyssa Ly 2G]

Hi!

To determine if salts are acidic, basic, or neutral, it depends on the strength of the acidity/basicity of the ions that formed the salt. Usually the salt is neutral if it is formed by a strong base and a strong acid, as this would allow for neutralization. However, if the salt was formed with a weak acid and a strong base, then the resulting salt would be considered basic as there would be a higher concentration of OH-. This works the same the other way around in which there is a strong acid and a weak base. In this case, the resulting nature of the salt will be acidic because there will be a higher concentration of H+ than OH-.

For the example you mentioned, KCl would be considered a neutral salt since it formed from the neutralization of the strong acid HCl and the strong base KOH.

I hope this makes sense!

[Elaine Steinberg 3H]

Hi! In order to determine the kind of salt, we need to look at the kind of acid and base that reacted to form it.

Using KCl as an example, we know that the ions of an acid and base exchange position to get salt and water. Working backwards, you can exchange the positions of the salt and water ions to get the acid and base. K+ and OH- form the KOH base, a strong base. Cl- and H+ form HCl, a strong acid.

Since both of these are strong, the salt is neutral. In the case of a strong acid but weak base, the salt will be acidic, and in the case of a weak acid but strong base, the salt will be basic. When both the parent acid and base are weak, the acidity/basicity of the salt is dependent on the parents acids relative values of dissociation.

[Monse Mata 3D]

Like the previous responses stated, it depends on the strength of the acidity/basicity of the ions that formed the salt. If the salt is neutral if it is formed by a strong base and a strong acid. We can also determine whether the salt is acidic or basic by comparing the Ka and Kb values. If Ka > Kb, it will be acidic, whereas if Kb > Ka, it will be basic. I provided an image I found online that shows a couple of examples which I hope will help.

[Arad_Badiee_2B]

In addition to what others had said, here are examples of each type of salt. For an acid salt, there is NaHSO4. This is an acid salt because the cation creates a creates a strong acid. a basic salt is CaCO3 because the cation forms a stronger base. NaCl is a neutral acid because it forms both strong acid and bases.