Sodium Acetate is the same as Sodium Ethanoate right?....but why are the two formulas written differently?....is it just to confuse us?...
2006-08-12 17:00:42 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Uhm. I think it only has one formula. CH3COONa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_acetate
Are you seeing something that says CH3CO2Na? The difference is probably that CH3COONa better represents the structure of the molecule, physically speaking, even though both formulas are the same thing.
2006-08-12 17:03:00 · answer #1 · answered by extton 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes sodium acetate and sodium ethanoate are the same. The formula is one but there are different possible ways to right it, like for many compounds. Which two are you referring to? The most different ones are
CH3COONa
and AcONa
Ac is an abbreviation for acetyl and it's frequently used in organic chemistry and biochemistry. It's very useful for writing more compactly structures of acetylated compounds.
Generally you can sometimes write the structure/formula in such away that it is easier to see which is the reacting part of the molecule.
If you'd like to be more specific we could give you a better answer. Maybe you are confusing sodium ethanoLate instead of ethanoate with sodium acetate?
Sodium acetate is the same as sodium ethanoate and is the salt of acetic or ethanoic acid with sodium CH3COONa
Sodium ethanoLate is the salt of ethyl alcohol with sodium CH3CH2ONa and is very different from sodium acetate. Be careful for that "L" in the ethano.. part
2006-08-13 06:14:22 · answer #2 · answered by bellerophon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The formulas and structures are both different. Sodium acetate: NaOCOCH3; Sodium Ethanolate: NaOC2H5.
2006-08-13 00:12:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sodium Acetate could be the formula NaCH3CO2 or CH3COONa one is with oxygen added the second one
2006-08-13 00:09:18 · answer #4 · answered by pooh bear 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you would write down the formulas maybe it shows if you're not simply confusing two things. As far as I know they should have the same formula.
2006-08-13 00:08:48 · answer #5 · answered by groovusy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would stick to the traditional way of naming compounds.
2006-08-13 00:27:16 · answer #6 · answered by Tony T 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋