Hey guys!
Got my Chemistry half yearly today and I've got a stupid question D: This is the question:
Which of the following aqueous solutions has a pH greater than 7?
a) Sodium ethanoate
b) Sodium chloride
c) Ammonium nitrate
d) Ammonium chloride
What's a good way to tell if you're unsure of the compound? Thanks!
Neutron
Hey!
EDIT: I was mistaken when answering this question: see below posts for the correct answer!
I don't think that's a stupid question at all! I think the most difficult part of the HSC Chemistry curriculum are sections where you just kind of need to memorise content, or rules, to get marks in a question.
Let's approach the multiple choice you've posed. First, I think it is fair to eliminate B straight away, as we know that NaCl is a neutral salt. It kind of has to be: we wouldn't want to be putting acidic/basic substances or our chips.
Next, I would try to recall that anything with an -oate on the end is know as an 'alkanoic acid' (from the Esterifaction part of your curriculum). Knowing that, I think it would be fair to eliminate A as well, since it will be acidic.
As for the last two, I honestly have no idea how to decide which is basic. I hope someone else in the forums can help me out, but I can't think of a way to distinguish between them in terms of any HSC level chemistry. I'm really sorry about that: at least at this stage you have a 50/50 chance of being right!
Again, so sorry about my terrible response.
Jake