[ferrari599]

I have two questions about Ethanol and Ethanoic acid:

a) Which is more acidic than the other, and so what would you see when you put ph paper in each.

b) What would you see if Sodium Carbonate reacted with Ethanol and Ethanoic acid?

Thank you for any help.

[Alberto_Kravina]

I have two questions about Ethanol and Ethanoic acid:

a) Which is more acidic than the other, and so what would you see when you put ph paper in each.

b) What would you see if Sodium Carbonate reacted with Ethanol and Ethanoic acid?

Thank you for any help.

a.)Try to think: what could be more acidic: an ACID or an alcohol?

b.)It doesn't react with Ethanol, but it reacts with Ethanoic (acetic) acid. In this case the acetic acid protonates the carbonate anion and forms the instable corresponding acid (carbonic acid). The other product of the reaction is sodium acetate.

[ferrari599]

Thank you very much for the help.

What I meant by a is that how acidic is Ethanol?, in terms of its ph.

So no reaction would occur between Ethanol and sodium carbonate?  How vigourous would the reaction between sodium carbonate and ethanoic acid?

Thanks

[Alberto_Kravina]

What I meant by a is that how acidic is Ethanol?, in terms of its ph.

pKa(Et-OH)=15.9
pKa(acetic acid)=4,75

The smaller the pKa value the stronger the acid. In this case you can see that Acetic acid is prertty strong compared to Ethanol.

So no reaction would occur between Ethanol and sodium carbonate?

Nope!

How vigourous would the reaction between sodium carbonate and ethanoic acid?

Not too vigorous at all...Some bubbles of CO₂ but nothing too crazy.

[ferrari599]

Thank you very much for your help.  I really appreciate it.

[ferrari599]

I forgot to mention, the reaction would be done with sodium carbonate SOLUTION; would this change the speed of reaction?  Would Sodium Ethanoate form as a solid precipitate, or just an aqueous solution, if so what colour?

Thanks

[Albert]

Carbonic acid is unstable and yields water and carbon dioxide.

A sodium carbonate solution, even if concentrated, is always an aqueous one.

[Alberto_Kravina]

Would Sodium Ethanoate form as a solid precipitate, or just an aqueous solution, if so what colour?

No solid precipitate! Sodium Acetate is perfectly soluble in water. Sodium acetate solutions are colorless.

[Alberto_Kravina]

Well, since I'm pretty bored this afternoon I made the reaction by myself using household items (soda and 80% acetic acid). As I said nothing too crazy happenend...just some bubbles of CO₂...you can see the reagents that I used in the background.