Question

Write the chemical name for the ionic compound ${\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}$ and mention its molecular weight in brackets after the name.

Answer 1

${\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}$ :

• The chemical name of ${\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}$ is sodium bicarbonate. This ionic compound is basically a type of salt, also known as baking soda.
• Industrially it is prepared from sodium carbonate by treating it with carbon dioxide and water. The reaction for the same is given as;

$\underset{\mathbf{Sodium}\mathbf{}\mathbf{carbonate}}{{\mathbf{Na}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{CO}}_{\mathbf{3}}}\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}\underset{\mathbf{Carbon}\mathbf{}\mathbf{dioxide}}{{\mathbf{CO}}_{\mathbf{2}\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{+}\underset{\mathbf{Water}}{\mathbf{}{\mathbf{H}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{O}\mathbf{}}\mathbf{\to }\mathbf{}\underset{\mathbf{Sodium}\mathbf{}\mathbf{bicarbonate}}{\mathbf{2}{\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}}$

• It is formed by mixing carbon, sodium, hydrogen, and oxygen with molecular weights of 12, 23, 1, and 16 gm/mol respectively. Hence the molecular weight of ${\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}$ is 84 gm/mol [12+23+1+(3*16)].

Thus, the chemical name and molecular weight for the ionic compound ${\mathbf{NaHCO}}_{\mathbf{3}}$is sodium bicarbonate (84 gm/mol).