Salts

[Tokspor]

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I understand that NH4NO3 is made up of the acid NH4 and the base NO3-, and also that their respective conjugates are NH3+ and HNO3. But in EK Chemistry, they state that "NH4+ is acidic and NO3- is neutral." Is this a typo? I don't understand how NO3- is neutral.

 

[raab32]

They're referring to acid/base neutrality. Check it out... HNO3 (nitric acid) is a strong acid (pKa of -1.4). The conjugate base of a strong acid is a very weak base, to the point of having no effect really. So NO3-, the conjugate base of HNO3, can for most measures be considered neutral. So the point they're making is the acidity/basicity of the salt would be more influenced by NH4+.