Cations and anions are fancy words for positive and negative ions respectively. I like to remember it by saying to myself 'which electrode would it be attracted to?'. A positively charged ion would move towards the negatively charged cathode, hence 'cation', and the reverse is true for 'anion'.
Okay, by the Bronsted-Lowry theory of acids and bases, an acid is a species that donates a proton and a base is a species that accepts a proton. Given that a proton is simply a H+ cation, any substance containing a hydrogen atom has the capacity to behave as an acid. The first answer is:
NH4+ --> NH3 + H+
CO3+ cannot by itself act as an acid, for the simple reason that it does not contain any hydrogen atoms. Hence this seems to be a trick question!
CH2NH3+ will most likely lose a proton from the positively charged NH3 part of the molecule, so as to neutralise the charge of the organic molecule:
According to Bronsted-Lowry theory acid are donor of protons and bases are acceptors of protons (the hydrogen cation or H⁺).
1) NH₄⁺(aq) + H₂O(l) ⇄ NH₃ + H₃O⁺(aq); the ammonium cation (NH₄⁺) gives proton to water.
2) [Co(H₂O)₆]³⁺ + H₂O ⇌ [Co(H₂O)₅(OH)]²⁺ + H₃O⁺; cobalt cation (Co³⁺) forms complex cation with six molecules of water, which act like acid and gives protons.
3) CH₂NH₃⁺(aq) + H₂O(l) ⇄ CH₂NH₂ + H₃O⁺(aq); H⁺ is cationic form of atomic hydrogen, the hydrated form of the hydrogen cation is the hydronium ion H₃O⁺(aq).
You did not provide the statements but a possible answer might be that the current atomic theory is sound and that technology that could challenge it does not exist at this time. There is no way to change it because no research can be done about it.
