Write the chemical formula of ammonium chloride. Explain why an aqueous solution of ammonium chloride is acidic in nature? Illustrate your answer with the help of a chemical equation.

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Solution

The chemical formula of ammonium chloride is $N H_{4} C l$ . Since, ammonium chloride is the salt of a strong acid $H C l$ and a weak base $N H_{4} O H$ , so an aqueous solution of ammonium chloride is acidic in nature.

When dissolved in water, it gets hydrolysed to some extent to form $H C l$ and $N H_{4} O H$ . $H C l$ being a strong acid is fully ionised and gives a large amount of hydrogen ions whereas $N H_{4} O H$ is only slightly ionised.

So, $N H_{4} C l$ contains more of hydrogen ions than hydroxide ions and is hence acidic in nature.

$N H_{4} C l (s) + H_{2} O (l) H y d r o l y s i s - ----- \to N H_{4} O H (a q) + H C l (a q)$

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