[xiankai]

in a test paper i had a question that asked me to determine the nature of the oxide, A2O.

Element A gas 1 valence electron, is a colorless gas at rtp, a poor conductor of electricity and does not react with cikd water.

naturally i assumed it was hydrogen, but then came the question about the oxide; is it amphoteric or neutral?

i put it as amphoteric, but the answer was neutral. is there any logic to it?

im studying the 'o' lvl syllabus btw

[arnyk]

If the oxide was water, then water is amphoteric.  Which means it can act as both an acid and a base in an ionization equation.  It had to be hydrogen right?  Gas, valence 1.  There's none other.  Bronsted-Lowry Theory there has to be an acid, base, conj. acid and conj. base.  So if they were asking in terms of that, then the answer options have to be base, acid, or amphoteric.  You cannot have a neutral part in the equation.  Water is relatively neutral with respect to pH...  The question doesn't seem too clear to me.  Perhaps someone smarter..

[jdurg]

I think the question about the oxide is whether, when dissolved in water, it forms a neutral solution or an acid/base solution?  It appears as if it was a VERY poor use of the word amphoteric.  (They would have been better off just saying acid/base).  When you dissolve water in water, you get a neutral solution.  When you dissolve sodium oxide in water, you get a basic solution.  When you dissolve nitrogen oxide in water, you get an acidic solution.

[arnyk]

Very poorly worded question indeed.

[xiankai]

its about 'o' lvl syllabus anyway...

from my notes, there are mainly 4 oxides - acidic, basic, amphoteric, neutral. its not about  being in water, its just the nature of the oxide.

they define amphoteric to have acidic and basic properties while neutral to have no acidic or basic properties

thanks for your help guys