Question

In the following list of salts, identify normal, acid and basic salts

(a) KHCO₃

Answer 1

Acidic salts:

• The salts which are formed by the partial neutralization of a diprotic or polyprotic acid are termed acidic salts.
• They form an acidic solution on hydrolysis.

Basic salts:

• The salts which are produced by the partial neutralization of a strong base with a weak acid are termed basic salts.
• They form a basic solution for hydrolysis.

Normal salts:

• The salts in which all the H⁺ ions are replaced by metal ions or hydroxide ions are replaced by acid radicals are termed normal salts.

Identifying the type of salt:

• KHCO₃ (Potassium bicarbonate) is made up of a strong base of Potassium hydroxide and a weak acid Carbonic acid which does not dissociate completely.
• $\underset{\mathrm{Potassium}\mathrm{hydroxide}}{\mathrm{K}\mathrm{OH}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Carbonic}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{CO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Potassium}\mathrm{bicarbonate}}{{\mathrm{KHCO}}_3\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$
• Hence, Potassium bicarbonate (KHCO₃) is a basic salt.