What is "ammonium hydroxide"?

1 Answer
anor277
Jun 8, 2017

Well first you will have to define your terms........

Explanation:

Ammonia is a colourless gas with a foul penetrating odour. It is VERY soluble in liquid water, and conc. ammonia is approx. 15*mol*L^-1 concentration. Fisher sells this reagent as "ammonium hydroxide"; a better name for the reagent would be simply "aqueous ammonia", because the following acid-base reaction lies STRONGLY to the LEFT:

NH_3(aq) + H_2O(l) rightleftharpoonsNH_4^(+) + HO^-

The bulk of the material in solution is still NH_3.

On the other hand I could take equivalent quantities of ammonia gas, and hydrogen chloride gas, and get the SALT, "ammonium chloride", i.e.

NH_3(g) + HCl(g)rarrNH_4Cl(s)darr

So the moral? "ammonium hydroxide"-=NH_4OH-=NH_3*H_2O.

Aqueous ammonia, NH_3*H_2O, has the same formulation as NH_4OH, i.e. NH_5O. Capisce?

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