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Neela Fazl

Is sodium thiosulfate an acid or base?

Ata Ur Rehman  Follow

Let's have a look at the composition: [math]Na{_2}S{_2}O{_3}[/math]

According to the broenstedt definition of acid, an acid is able to donate protons (H+). Do we have any protons? No, so it isn't an acid.

A base is able to accept protons. That's something that can happen:

[math]{Na_2}{S_2}O{_3} + 2 H^+ ightarrow {H_2}{S_2}{O_3} + 2Na^+[/math]

The product, thiosulphuric acid will decomposes immediately and form water, sulphur and sulphur dioxide.

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Amelia Noah  Follow

Since thiosulfate can be either monovalent (-1 charged) or divalent (-2 charged ) you need to know the strength of these acidic sites to answer your question. The strongest acidic site has a pKa of 0.6 while the second pKa is 1.72 (The smaller the pKa, the stronger the acid, extremely strong acids will have negative pKa values. If you want to know more about pKa values, you can find several compilations online). This means that the first ionization potential is that of a strong acid while the second ionization potential is that of a weaker but still fairly strong acid. The basic properties of a salt are the complement of the properties of the acid and base from which they were formed. The salt of a strong acid is a weak base while the salt of a weak acid is a strong base. If an acid is strong enough, the salt is such a weak base that it has virtually no basicity. A good example of this is sodium chloride, the salt of a very strong acid, hydrochloric acid. In the case of thiosulfuric acid, the first ionization potential is in this category, so the basic properties of this salt is negligible. However, the second ionization potential of thiosulfuric acid is some less acidic and as such, the salt is a weak base. Consequently, sodium thiosulfate is a weak base.

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