Question

The aqueous solution of sodium acetate is basic. Explain.

Answer 1

Hint: Sodium acetate is an organic compound when one hydrogen atom of acetic acid is replaced with a sodium atom, so its formula is $C{H}_{3}COONa$. The cation in this sodium ion and the anion is acetate ion so, with water the cation will react with hydroxyl ion and anion will react with hydrogen in water.

Complete answer:
When the aqueous solution a compound is acidic then, the ph of the solution is less than 7 and there are a large number of hydrogen ions and when the aqueous solution a compound is basic then, the ph of the solution is more than 7 and there are a large number of hydroxyl ions.
Sodium acetate is an organic compound when one hydrogen atom of acetic acid is replaced with a sodium atom, so its formula is $C{H}_{3}COONa$. The cation in this sodium ion and the anion is acetate ion.
In water we know there are two ions, i.e., hydrogen ions are hydroxyl ions.
Both the reactions are given below:
$C{H}_{3}COONa\to C{H}_{3}CO{O}^{-}+N{a}^{+}$
$H_{2}O\to H^{+}+O{H}^{-}$
Sodium acetate with water the cation will react with hydroxyl ion and anion will react with hydrogen in water.
So, the reaction will be:
$C{H}_{3}COONa+H_{2}O\to C{H}_{3}COOH+NaOH$
We can see that the products are acetic acid and sodium hydroxide, and we know that sodium hydroxide is a strong base and in sodium, it is always present in ionic form, so the number of hydroxyl ions is very high due to which the solution is basic.

Note:
In the product acetic acid is also formed which is acid and it will form hydrogen ions but the acetic acid is weak acid due to which the number of hydrogen ions is less than the number of hydroxyl ions.