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Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonium hydroxide, ammoniacal liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH 3 (aq). Although the name ammonium hydroxide suggests a salt with the composition [NH + 4][OH −
Ammonia fumes from aqueous ammonium hydroxide (in test tube) reacting with hydrochloric acid (in beaker) to produce ammonium chloride (white smoke). Bases react with acids to neutralize each other at a fast rate both in water and in alcohol. [7] When dissolved in water, the strong base sodium hydroxide ionizes into hydroxide and sodium ions:
An example of a weak base is ammonia. It does not contain hydroxide ions, but it reacts with water to produce ammonium ions and hydroxide ions. [4] The position of equilibrium varies from base to base when a weak base reacts with water. The further to the left it is, the weaker the base. [5]
The lone pair makes ammonia a base, a proton acceptor. Ammonia is moderately basic; a 1.0 M aqueous solution has a pH of 11.6, and if a strong acid is added to such a solution until the solution is neutral (pH = 7), 99.4% of the ammonia molecules are protonated. Temperature and salinity also affect the proportion of ammonium [NH 4] +.
In this case, the water molecule is the conjugate acid of the basic hydroxide ion after the latter received the hydrogen ion from ammonium. On the other hand, ammonia is the conjugate base for the acidic ammonium after ammonium has donated a hydrogen ion to produce the water molecule.
Thus, the ammonium ion, NH + 4, in liquid ammonia corresponds to the hydronium ion in water and the amide ion, NH − 2 in ammonia, to the hydroxide ion in water. Ammonium salts behave as acids, and metal amides behave as bases. [10] Some non-aqueous solvents can behave as bases, i.e. accept protons, in relation to Brønsted–Lowry acids.
The ammonium ion is mildly acidic, reacting with Brønsted bases to return to the uncharged ammonia molecule: [NH 4] + + B − → HB + NH 3. Thus, the treatment of concentrated solutions of ammonium salts with a strong base gives ammonia. When ammonia is dissolved in water, a tiny amount of it converts to ammonium ions: H 2 O + NH 3 ⇌ OH − ...
For example, in the formation of an ammonium ion from ammonia and hydrogen the ammonia molecule donates a pair of electrons to the proton; [11] the identity of the electrons is lost in the ammonium ion that is formed. Nevertheless, Lewis suggested that an electron-pair donor be classified as a base and an electron-pair acceptor be classified as ...