Scrupuli

blunt essays with sharp points

How “bicarbonate” gets its name

by Scrvpvlvs
Jun 16, 2012 11:40 AM–Bicarbonate gets its name from how it combines with metal atoms, compared to carbonate.

A bicarbonate is a carbonate with a hydrogen atom attached. The hydrogen atom’s one positive electrical charge leaves the carbonate with only one of its two negative electrical charges free.

For example, one carbonate can capture two atoms of a metal, if each metal atom has one positive charge. But it takes two bicarbonates to capture the same two metal atoms. You end up with twice the number of carbonates combined with the same number of metal atoms. Thus the name: bi- (meaning two) carbonate.

You can think of the second carbonate as diluting the metal further, and this is how it often works in practice. For example, washing soda is the carbonate of sodium, and baking soda is the bicarbonate. Because there is more carbonate diluting the sodium in baking soda than in washing soda, the baking soda is weaker.¹

In 19th century writings, you will also find the less precise name “supercarbonate”: super- (meaning above, or higher than normal) carbonate.

In the 21st century, the preferred more precise name is “hydrogen carbonate”. Chemists also prefer to use the pure metal name, such as “sodium” instead of “soda”, because “soda” has multiple meanings.

For example: in old Irish soda bread recipes you will see “supercarbonate of soda”, but on the box of baking soda you will see “sodium bicarbonate” and in modern chemistry books you will see “sodium hydrogen carbonate” – all meaning the same compound.

NOTES

1. In chemical notation:

2 Na⁺ + 1 CO₃²⁻ → 1 Na₂CO₃ (sodium carbonate, washing soda)
2 Na⁺ + 2 HCO₃¹⁻ → 2 NaHCO₃, (sodium hydrogen carbonate, baking soda)

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(go to complete article)

Share:

1 comments

Google Invents Fifth “R”

by Scrvpvlvs
Jun 4, 2012 6:00 AM–Before Google, if you had a Windows PC problem, you followed Microsoft’s Four “R”s to solve it:
  1. Restart the app
  2. Reboot Windows
  3. Reload the software
  4. Replace the PC

Google’s innovation in this space is to add another “R”:

  1. Refresh the tab

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

(go to complete article)

Share:

0 comments

about.me

Follow

feed

E-mail: enter address

Project Euler competitor metaed

vs.

Project Euler competitor db8

profile for MetaEd on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites

Recent Articles

Cataclysm

Open letter re: Grinnell College alumni “lifetime”...

Spybot – Search & Destroy interferes with Lync 201...

A moment of silence

Rondeau

Howard Schultz of Starbucks: firm on support for m...

In each of us, two natures are at war

Clorox does not understand how to measure bleach

This season’s pie recipe

Adamah

Archives

November 1999
June 2000
July 2000
September 2001
October 2001
February 2002
March 2002
June 2003
February 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
February 2005
March 2005
November 2005
July 2007
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
April 2009
September 2009
December 2009
February 2010
March 2010
May 2010
June 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
April 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
December 2011
February 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
November 2012
January 2013
February 2013
April 2013
February 2014
May 2014
October 2014
June 2017
February 2019