Question

A normal salt of sodium formed from acetic acid is:
A.Ammonium nitrate
B.Potassium chloride
C.Sodium acetate
D.Magnesium sulfate

Answer 1

In order to solve this question, we should know the chemical formula of acetic acid and sodium hydroxide.
Then we will carry out the reaction between the two, and then the name of the product should match one of the options.

Complete step by step answer:
The chemical formula of acetic acid is $CH_3COOH$, it contains a carboxyl group as a functional group and a methyl group. The chemical formula of sodium hydroxide is $NaOH$ and it is basic in nature. As we could make out from the name of acetic acid that it is acidic in nature. Now we know that acid and bases react with each other in order to form salt. Examples of such reactions may include reaction of hydrochloric acid as a strong acid and sodium hydroxide as a strong base. So when these two reagents undergo reaction they form the salt sodium chloride or common salt as well as water as a by-product. The explained example can be chemically represented as,
$NaOH+HCl\xrightarrow{aq.}NaCl+H_2O$
Another example could be, reaction of acetic acid and potassium hydroxide. In this case potassium hydroxide is the base and acetic acid is the acid. So after reaction, it will form potassium salt of acetic acid or potassium acetate, and water as a by-product.
$KOH+CH_3COOH\to CH_3COOK+H_2O$
Now if we take a look at the question, the given acid is a weak acid, it will dissociate its proton in the solution. The sodium hydroxide present in the solution will react with the acetic acid in order to form sodium salt of acetic acid. The reaction which is explained, can be chemically represented as,
$CH_3COOH+NaOH\to CH_3COONa+H_2O$
As we can see water is released as a by-product in this reaction too. Now if we look at the options given in the following question, option C is sodium acetate, which is nothing but another name of sodium salt of acetic acid.
So the correct option is C.

Note:
The acid base reaction generally has a proton acceptor and a proton donor compound.
In this question, the proton donor was acetic acid and acceptor was sodium hydroxide.
However some reagents may act as both depending on the surrounding. They are called amphoteric reagents. Water is one such reagent.