Re: Soda formula -- An extra "H" will DoLittle to Help the Formula

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

David A. Youngker said: " <nestor10 at mindspring_com>

> Sodium bicarbonate, also known as sodium hydrogen
> carbonate to the non-US
> participants (and it _is_ a more straight-forward
> representation,) is
> properly shorthanded to NaHCO3.
> 
> The sodium and hydrogen ions combine to complete the
> carbonate's double
> valence requirement. Adding another proton would make for
> an acidic ion, as
> it would carry not only the proton but its extra charge
> as well. And since
> the valence for the carbonate group is filled, I can't
> think of a simplistic
> way to attach the extra in the first place.
> 
> Sodium carbonate, without the "bi-", is Na2CO3. This
> compound is formed by
> replacing the hydrogen ion with another sodium, of
> course, but the point to
> illustrate is that it still takes only two single valence
> ions to do the
> job...

This all makes sense, even to me.  So James really hit the
proverbial nail when he said be *careful* when talking
about or ordering chemicals.  I could give a list of sites
that discuss Sodium Bicarbonate as NaH2CO3, but it would be
too lengthy -- just type "NaH2CO3" into your search engine
and see how many pages come up with that as the formula for
sodium bicarb or baking soda  :-0

BTW, In 'artford, 'ereford, and 'ampshire, this mistake
'ardly ever 'appens."

Scott H.

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