Washing soda is:

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

RRB Group D 16 Sept 2022 Shift 3 Official Paper

Answer 1

The correct answer is a basic salt.

Key Points:

We know that sodium hydrogen carbonate is a basic salt because it is made when a strong base, such as NaOH, and a weak acid, such as H2CO3, neutralise one another.
Strong heating of sodium hydrogen carbonate results in the production of sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide.
It involves the subsequent reactions:
- NaHCO_{3 +} heat → Na₂CO₃+H₂O+CO₂
By crystallising NaHCO3, Na₂CO3.10H₂O is produced (washing soda).
Washing soda is sodium carbonate, which is formed upon crystallisation as Na₂CO3.10H2O.

Additional Information:

Washing soda is a salt of carbonic acid, a substance that also yields a variety of other salts referred to as carbonates.
In order to help other cleaning agents remove filth from garments and suspend it in the wash water, sodium carbonate softens water.
The washing soda bonds to the minerals, making the water harder and enabling the detergent to adequately penetrate the fibres to clean the clothing.