Metal carbonates (such as: CaCO3, Na2CO3 etc) are ACIDIC in nature or BASIC? Thanks

bolded text

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 13, 2016

Carbonate salts are weakly basic.

Explanation:

#CO_3^(2-) + H_2O rightleftharpoons HCO_3^(-) + OH^-#

At equilibrium, a small concentration of hydroxide will be present. The #Ca^(2+)# and #Na^(+)# counterions are simply along for the ride, and do not influence #pH#.

Related questions
See all questions in Acids and Bases
Impact of this question
6678 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License