Given a buffered pair, how would you identify which is the weak acid and which is the salt?

Question

can you help me out with this question, thanks the help =)

Answer 1

"Buffered pair" is an achedemic term I seldom encounter as a working chemist.

However ....

The salt of the pair will dissassociate and form a positive ion which isn't hydrogen. The other compound will be the weak acid. For example, Acetic acid reacts with Ammonim hydroxide to form Ammonium acetate and water:

CH3CO2H + NH4OH -> CH3CO2NH4 + H2O

The acetic acid is the weak acid because it dissassociates into acetate and hydrogen ions:

CH3CO2H -> CH3CO2(-) + H(+)

The ammonium acetate is the salt, because it dissassociates into acetate ions and an ion which is not hydrogen:

CH3CO2NH4 -> CH3CO2(-) + NH4(+)

Other common ions which are not Hydrogen include Sodium and Potassium. These compounds will be in the form of some sort of base on the left side of the equation, which is also where the weak acid will be found. The right side of the equation will list the salt and a water molecule.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The weak acid will have H plus an anion, while the salt will have the anion with a metal like Na. For example HC2H3O2 and NaC2H3O2.