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Topic: what does "bi" mean in chemistry?  (Read 2813 times)

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Offline iScience

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what does "bi" mean in chemistry?
« on: April 03, 2014, 08:24:31 AM »
what does the "bi" in bicarbonate refer to?

thought it was referring to the H but there's only one
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Offline Borek

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Re: what does "bi" mean in chemistry?
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2014, 08:30:45 AM »
It is historical. Originally it meant salt prepared using twice the amount of acid, so this is preparation of a normal salt, carbonate:

Ca(OH)2 + H2CO3 :rarrow: CaCO3 + 2H2O

and this is making of BIcarbonate, using two times more acid:

Ca(OH)2 + 2H2CO3 :rarrow: Ca(HCO3)2 + 2H2O
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