Question

Non-metals react with bases to form:
A. Hydrogen
B. Salt
C. Oxide
D. Alcohol

Answer 1

Hint: The non-metals are species which have a tendency to accept electrons, and metals on the other hand have a tendency to donate electrons.
The non-metals accept electrons because they have a valency of four or more than four, which lowers their tendency to donate, as it is easier to accept electrons and gain a stable octet configuration.

Complete step by step answer:
Non-metals are the elements which have a tendency to accept electrons, and consequently form negative ions. The outermost shell of non-metals usually has four or more than four electrons, so they accept electrons to form a stable octet configuration. This is why they have lower value of electron gain enthalpy, which is the energy released by an element when an electron is added to its outermost shell. Non-metals, like the name suggests, have less or no metallic character whatsoever.
Now if we consider the definition of bases, they could be defined in terms of hydroxide carriers or which liberate hydroxide ions in addition with water, and it could also be defined in terms of electrons, as in, the ones which have a tendency to donate electrons.
Now, if we look at the question, it says the reaction of non-metals with bases, so we will take an example in order to understand it more logically.
$NaOH+C{{l}_{2}}\to NaCl+NaClO+{{H}_{2}}O$
We can see in this reaction that the base is sodium hydroxide, while chlorine is the non-metal, and after the reaction it forms salt, along with some side products.
Now if we consider all the options which are given in the question, we can see that the first option says hydrogen, and we can see that this reaction doesn’t produce hydrogen at all, so this option is incorrect. Now if we consider option B, it says salt, and we know that sodium chloride is a salt, which is being formed as a product in the reaction. So this option is correct. The third option is oxide, and we can see that the non-metal didn’t form any oxide alone, so this option is incorrect. The fourth option says alcohol, and as we can see that no alcohol is formed as a product in the reaction, so this option would also be incorrect.

So, the correct answer is Option B .

Note: Non-metals are electron acceptors by nature, and bases are electron donors, so when these two react with each other they form salts, as a product, as the electrons which are donated by the base, are accepted by the non-metals.
This concept of bases is defined on the basis of electrons, however, the bases can be defined on the basis of hydroxide ions too, meaning, the compounds which liberate hydroxide ions when in aqueous solution, are termed as bases.