Thread: Base or Salt

NaOH - My first thought is that this is a salt then I noticed the OH. So I searched it up on the internet and its a strong base.

So does that mean any compound with an OH will be a base?

Also I think that any non metal that is by itself will be double wont it? Like Oxygen is always O2 and Hydrogen is always H2.

you're saying a lot of things that a student who has finished highschool chemistry would never let slip from their mouth. so you may find many of your questions are answered merely be reading a chemistry text.

now, in regards to your question: there are a few different definitions for salts and bases, however i'm most familiar with a base being defined as a chemical with the ability to take up protons in a reaction. and a good deffinition for a salt that i have heard is the non-water product of the reaction of an acid and a base.

if a source of hydrogen ions(protons) is added to a solution containing NaOH, the net reaction will be H+OH=H2O. besides the H2O, the Na will associate itself with the anion that the protons were originally bound to. the resulting chemical is a salt. in the case of hydrochloric acid(HCl) the result would be common table salt or NaCl.

as far as any compound containing OH- in its formula being a base, you are nearly correct. as it is the OH- that reacts with H+ to produce H2O, many compounds containing it are a base. however you must consider organic compounds with OH groups covalently bonded to carbon. A more specific statement is correct; any soluble ionic compound containing the OH- ion is a base, and any soluble ionic compound containing H+ ion is an acid. beware that the converse is not true, there are bases that do not contain the OH- ion and there are acids which do not contain the H+ ion.

Thanks for the help. I didn't know that some bases didn't have the OH and some acids didnt have the H. I understand some things better now.

I agree, many thanks from my corner as well