I HAS A CHEMISTRY HOMEWORK

We were given five different solutions where we didn't know which one was which, but we did know which ones we were supposed to have, and were supposed to figure out which was which based on the solutions' pH. I managed to do that by myself, but one of the solutions, CH3COONH4 was neutral, and now I'm supposed to say how I could have differentiated between it and NaCl solution, had we been given that too, and I haven't got a clue. Halp?

First of all, write it as Ammonium acetate, not CH3COONH4

Second, you can just do a pH titration and NaCl will have a sharp endpoint, while ammonium acetate will have some asymmetric curve.

Or you could dump in differnent ions and see what precipitates.

Silver should precipitate chloride but not acetate

that structure, is it 3H-C-(C=O)-O-N-H4

I would think one of those species would be better at its job than the other. huh

>>)-O-N-H4

No, because Nitrogen cannot have five bonds.

Ammonium acetate is [3H-C-(C=O)-O]^- and [NH4]^+

you've got both an amino (basic) group and a carboxylic acid (COO-) or maybe two hydroxyls, similar to glycine in formula. titrate it and the curve will be sigmoid since the H+ will dissociate from different functional groups at different pH.

>>7
It says NH4.  What else can it be besides ammonium

Ocean fish will die faster in CH3COONH4 solution, won't it?

>>9
not if has a tank
plug and chug