Chemistry is an interesting science that explains most of the processes and phenomena occurring around us. Moreover, these phenomena are not limited to simple dissolution of sugar in a cup of tea or hydrolysis of substances, which is often the basis of an industrial process, but also as complex as the creation of organic matter without the participation of a living organism. In other words, chemistry is the science of life in terms of most of the phenomena around us. Chemistry can tell you everything about acids, bases, alkalis and salts. One of the latter will be discussed later - sodium carbonate. Let's look at everything related to sodium carbonate, starting with the chemical formula and ending with application in industry and life.
So, sodium carbonate, the formula of which is written as follows: Na2CO3, is a salt of carbonic acid, which is also called sodium salt of carbonic acid, or soda ash. This substance looks like a simple white powder, consisting of small grains, without any smell and with a rather unpleasant taste. It can cause severe poisoning and ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract if it enters the human body in large quantities. The structural formula is as follows: two sodium atoms are connected by one electron pair to oxygen atoms (one oxygen per oxygen atom), oxygen atoms are connected by single bonds to a carbon atom, and carbon, in turn, is bound by four (two pairs) electrons with an oxygen atom. Thus, we see the following interesting picture: sodium atoms became positive ions with charges of +1, oxygen atoms are negative and have a charge of -2, and the carbon that gave away four electrons has a charge of +4. Thus, sodium carbonate, or rather, its molecule, has polarity in some places.
There is also a slightly different salt: sodium bicarbonate, which has the chemical formula NaHCO3, which can also cause poisoning if it gets inside the body. Sodium bicarbonate reacts with metals that are more active than sodium, while sodium is reduced. This salt can also react with the alkali of a more active metal, and sodium will be reduced. If hydrolysis of this salt is carried out, it should be noted that sodium hydroxide is a strong alkali, and carbonic acid is rather weak, therefore, first of all, you will get a base and the test tube will have an alkaline environment, which can be detected using phenol-phthalein (stains the solution salt in raspberry color).
If we talk about sodium carbonate, the chemical properties of which practically do not differ from the chemical properties of bicarbonate, it can be noted that if the electrolysis of the melt and the solution of this salt is carried out, then their "behavior" will be completely identical. Let's consider.
Electrolysis of the molten sodium carbonate will result in the release of a carbonate ion and two moles of sodium. If hydrolysis of the solution of this salt is carried out, the following picture will be obtained: hydrogen will be restored on the anode, a hydroxo group on the cathode, and as a result it will turn out that there remains a carbonate anion and two moles of sodium.
It can also be and should be noted that sodium carbonate reacts with substances such as stronger acids, for example, nitric, hydrochloric or sulfuric. Substitution takes place, that is, carbonic acid is restored, which immediately decomposes into water and carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide, and the salt of that acid is added, which was added to sodium carbonate.
Approximately the same picture is obtained if you add a soluble (and no other, otherwise the reaction will not work!) Salt of a stronger acid, but the reaction products should produce gas, precipitate or water.