Salt Solutions

[Janet Nguy 2C]

First of all, what exactly is a salt and how can you identify it within a reaction?

Secondly, how is calculating the pH of a salt solution going to be different than calculating the pH of acid/base solutions?

[GFolk_1D]

Hi! I found this video to be very useful on this topic. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/che ... -solutions

[christabellej 1F]

A salt is composed of a positively and negatively charged ion. It shouldn't be different from calculating other acid/base pH. Usually, one part of the salt will influence the pH - for example, in NaC2H3CO2, C2H3CO2 is negatively charged and will make for a basic solution. You would just do the ICE table with C2H3CO2- in water, just like any other acid base problem.

[Emily Chirila 2E]

First you need to be able to recognize which parts of a salt don't affect pH (group 1&2 elements, like Na+). Once you recognize what part of the salt WILL affect the pH, you write the reaction for that part of the salt reacting with water to form it's conjugate acid/base and either H3O+ or OH-, depending if the reactive part of the salt is an acid (will form H3O+) or a base (will form OH-). From there you can use an ICE table to calculate pH or whatever the problem is asking you for.