Acids, bases and salts

Attempt the following questions.

1. Which property does hydrochloric acid have?

A. It liberates ammonia from ammonium salts.

B. It reacts with any base to give a salt.

C. It reacts with any metal to give hydrogen.

D. It turns red litmus paper blue.

2. Which gas changes damp litmus paper from red to blue?

A. ammonia

B. carbon dioxide

C. chlorine

D. hydrogen chloride

3. An aqueous solution has a pH value of 1. What information does this fact give about the ions in
solution?

Concentration of H+ ions Concentration of OH-

A. High None
B. High Low
C. Low Low
D. Low High

4. Which element burns in air to form an oxide which when shaken with water gives a solution
with a pH greater than seven?

A. carbon

B. hydrogen

C. magnesium

D. sulphur

5. Which of the following reacts with dilute sulphuric acid to give a gas and water as two of the
products?
A. zinc

B. zinc carbonate

C. zinc hydroxide

D. zinc oxide

Answers

1. Ans: B

Acids react with bases to form salt and water. Alkalis liberate ammonia from ammonium salts. Although
HCl is a strong acid, it will not liberate hydrogen when added to unreactive metals such as Cu, Ag (silver)
and Au (gold). Finally acids turn blue litmus paper red.

2. Ans: A

Ammonia is the only alkaline gas of the group and so will turn red litmus to blue.

3. Ans: B

An acid has a low pH value. Generally, the smaller the pH value, the stronger the concentration of H+
ions in the solution. Thus, a value of 1 would indicate high concentration of H+ ions. Alkalis on the other
hand would have pH values from 9-14.

4. Ans: C

Magnesium is the only metal of the group and so when it burns in air it forms a metallic oxide, MgO, which
is basic. This oxide dissolves slightly in water to form a slightly alkaline solution with pH greater than
seven.

5. Ans: B

Zinc carbonate reacts with suphuric acid to form zinc sulphate, carbon dioxide and water.

ZnCO3 (s) + H2SO4 (aq) === ZnSO4 (aq) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

Only a gas, H2 is produced when zinc reacts with H2SO4.

Zn (s) + H2SO4 (aq) === ZnSO4 (aq) + H2 (g)

The other reactions do not produce any gas, only the salt (ZnSO 4) and water.