Re: Is there any chemical reaction with the amonia and baking soda? If so what?

Date: Tue Feb 22 16:25:57 2000
Posted By: John Christie, Faculty, School of Chemistry, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 947301939.Ch

Message:


No, I am sorry. You are not quite right. Ammonia is a base, not an acid. 
Baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, is a slightly weaker base than ammonia. So 
on that basis, there is no chemical reaction between them.

However baking soda can also act as an acid, a very weak one. So a tiny 
amount of reaction can occur -- less than 1%. The products would be ammonium 
carbonate and sodium carbonate. In the solution there would be no visible or 
smellable difference.

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