If you mix an equal amount of alkali and acid does it mean you can drink the substance as it becomes neutral?

Question

I am doing acids and alkalies in Science and I can't find an answer to this question.

Answer 1

If they react to make a salt, yes, if not, i dont think so.

Please dont try it, lol

Answer 2

It depends what acid and alkali.

At the end of the reaction, you don't just have water; you have a salt left over in solution. So if you started with NaOH and HCl,you would be left with NaCl (common table salt) in solution. However, most combinations you ended up with would not be good to drink.

Practical matter: You wouldn't anyway,but don't eat or drink anything from the lab. The standards for lab chemicals are quite different from those for food.

Answer 3

Sorry human beings, strictly speaking those solutions above are in certainty not all ultimate. The words "alkali" and "base" do not refer basically to hydroxide salts! for this reason, "water" isn't the only ingredient that is created from the reaction of acid plus the two base or alkali. case in point, sodium ethoxide could be seen alkali, and the reaction of that with a Bronsted acid yields ethanol (plus a salt, e.g. NaCl if the acid is HCl). Lithium amide (LiNH2) is a base, and the reaction of that with a Bronsted acid yields ammonia (plus a salt, e.g. LiCl if the acid is HCl). So the final answer truly for manufactured from an acid + alkali, or acid + base = conjugate acid of the backside plus the conjugate base of the acid (many times a salt)! A Bronsted acid plus steel certainly in many circumstances yields a steel ion + H2 (and definitely there are exceptions) A Bronsted acid + a carbonate salt certainly in many circumstances yields carbon dioxide plus water plus a salt

Answer 4

Not at all! First of all, mixing equal amounts of acids and bases doesn't always result in a neutral solution. It depends on a number of things:

(A) The normality of the acid and base used. "Normality" is a measure of substance equivalents. For example, if you mix 1.0 Liter of 1.0 M HCl with 1.0 L of 1.0 M Ca(OH)2, the solution will NOT be neutral since each unit of calcium hydroxide contributes TWO hydroxide ions, while each unit of hydrogen chloride contributes only ONE hydrogen ion. You will have an alkaline solution after mixing them.

(B) The strength of the acid and base used. NaOH is a strong base, and CH3COOH (acetic acid) is a weak acid. Mixing 1.0 L of each solution (where each is 1.0 M) will not result in a neutral solution because the acetate ion is itself a moderately strong base. Again, you'd end up with a slightly alkaline solution.

All that aside, could you drink the resulting solution?

Well, the salt you formed might be poisonous. If you mix ammonia with HCl, for example, the resulting salt will be ammonium chloride. Aside from being slightly acidic (because ammonia is a relatively weak base), NH4Cl is toxic to humans. I wouldn't recommend drinking it.

Sometimes, though, you will form a salt that's common in seawater. For example, if you mix NaOH and HCl, you form a common table salt solution. I wouldn't recommend drinking that either; while it might not kill you right away, it will upset your electrolyte balance and make you even thirstier.

So, bottom line, don't drink ANYTHING you make by mixing chemicals in a laboratory. It just isn't safe.