1answer.
Ask question
Login Signup
Ask question
All categories
  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Health
  • Geography
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Computers and Technology
  • Arts
  • World Languages
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Advanced Placement (AP)
  • SAT
  • Medicine
  • Law
  • Engineering
Alexandra [31]
3 years ago
13

Which would be the best to neutralize a large acid spill in your school lab: sodium hydroxide or baking soda? Explain.

Chemistry
1 answer:
nadya68 [22]3 years ago
5 0

Consider the acid spill. It is already starting to do nasty things to, say, the floor or counter. So you grab the bottle of 10% NaOH and pour some on the spill. All of a sudden, you get a great deal of heat, and you don't have any visual evidence whether your put on too little or too much. But you have added more liquid to the spill, generated more heat, and will get more damage. You have made a bigger mess, and if you added too much, you then have a neutralization problem to deal with.  

And if it is something like a strong sulfuric acid solution, adding sodium hydroxide solution will be extremely exothermic, and you could get some really nasty results.  

So now approach the spill with a handful of baking soda. You sprinkle it on the spill. It fizzes, and carbon dioxide is given off. That actually, in a very tiny way, moderates the temperature of the neutralization. And you can keep adding baking soda until the fizzing stops, and then perhaps some water to mix everything well. But what you have done is kept the volume to a minimum, added a neutralization agent that has a visible endpoint (no more gas being given off), and you don't suddenly have a huge amount of highly basic solution because you added too much.  

And what is also nice about baking soda is that you can toss some with your hand or even with a spoon, and get some distance from the spill. With a liquid, you have to get much closer

i hope this helped..

You might be interested in
Why is NaHCO3 a base?
worty [1.4K]

NaHCO3 is a product of a strong base and a weak acid reaction. Thus it has weak basic properties.

HCO3- ion is actually amphoteric, which means it can act as a base or an acid. But it is weaker than a strong acid or a strong base.

<span>HCO3- is amphoteric meaning it acts both as a B.L. Acid and a B.L. Base.. which is why it's used to neutralize both acid and base spills in the lab.</span>

7 0
3 years ago
A ray in the emission spectrum has a wavelength of 3.10 x 1014 meters. Given that the speed of light is 2.998 x 108 m/s, what is
bulgar [2K]
<span>0.967 x 10^-6 HZ

This should be correct (:</span>
8 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
Which observation does not indicate that a chemical reaction has occurred?
castortr0y [4]

Answer:

change in the total mass of substances

6 0
3 years ago
Solids we need to live
gogolik [260]
Foods are a solid we need to survive
6 0
3 years ago
Cavendish bananas are a popular species among banana growers because there predictable . All these bananas are grown to have the
vladimir2022 [97]

Answer:

B. They are clones of the parent plant

Explanation:

3 0
3 years ago
Other questions:
  • Suppose you held two magnets a short distance apart,then let go. what would happen?
    7·2 answers
  • Which equation represents a neutralization reaction?
    15·1 answer
  • Explain why the flow of a compressed gas must be controlled for practical and safe use? use
    13·1 answer
  • True/False 1,atoms combines to form element 2, a physical changes is a change in the composition of as substance 3, physical pro
    8·2 answers
  • Susan needs to simplify the expression shown below what should be her first step
    10·1 answer
  • Determine if the following two structures are
    6·1 answer
  • The tabulated data show the rate constant of a reaction measured at several different temperatures. Use an Arrhenius plot to det
    10·1 answer
  • When barium becomes positively charged, it forms a(n): (2 points)
    12·1 answer
  • What elements in a reaction is likely to react just like Zinc?
    8·2 answers
  • Why do we produce formaldehyde?
    15·1 answer
Add answer
Login
Not registered? Fast signup
Signup
Login Signup
Ask question!