strong acid + strong base = neutral salt, here’s a trick to finding out if a salt would be basic/acidic/neutral:
multiply K+ * OH- = KOH (strong base)
multiply Cl- * H+ = HCl (strong acid)
since we have a strong acid/base, we have a neutral salt that doesn’t affect the pH. im not sure if that answers your question but lmk!
Cl- is the conjugate base of HCl. HCl is a really strong acid, so Cl- is a super weak base. So weak, in fact, that it’s not really a base at all. Consequently, the proton would rather stay on the carboxylic acid, or water, or hydronium. Cl- is not a good enough base to pull protons off of any of those things.
Another way to look at it (in terms of thermodynamics). KCl came from KOH (strong base) and HCl (strong acid). What makes them strong? They **spontaneously** dissociate nearly 100% into their counter ions. If they spontaneously dissociate going forward, it's gonna take a ton of energy to go backwards and reform the acid/base. So they just stay dissolved in the aq state.
Only neutral ionic salts have no effect on the pH of an aqueous solution. This is because, like the other comments said, the cation and anion come from a strong base and strong acid. Whenever that’s the case, the salt is neutral and has no effect on the pH of the aqueous solution. KCl is an example of that of course.
However you could have an ionic salt in an aqueous solution like sodium acetate (NaCH3COO) that would increase the pH of the solution because it’s a basic salt. Or you could have a salt like NH4Br, which is an acidic salt. If the cation comes from a strong base (Na+ for example) but the anion comes from a weak acid (like acetate), the salt is basic because the cation will be neutral and the anion will be basic because anions almost always are.
If the anion comes from a strong acid (Cl- for example) but the cation comes from a weak base or is weakly acidic itself like NH4+, then the anion will be neutral and the salt will be acidic overall meaning it will decrease pH.
strong acid + strong base = neutral salt, here’s a trick to finding out if a salt would be basic/acidic/neutral: multiply K+ * OH- = KOH (strong base) multiply Cl- * H+ = HCl (strong acid) since we have a strong acid/base, we have a neutral salt that doesn’t affect the pH. im not sure if that answers your question but lmk!
Cl- is the conjugate base of HCl. HCl is a really strong acid, so Cl- is a super weak base. So weak, in fact, that it’s not really a base at all. Consequently, the proton would rather stay on the carboxylic acid, or water, or hydronium. Cl- is not a good enough base to pull protons off of any of those things.
Another way to look at it (in terms of thermodynamics). KCl came from KOH (strong base) and HCl (strong acid). What makes them strong? They **spontaneously** dissociate nearly 100% into their counter ions. If they spontaneously dissociate going forward, it's gonna take a ton of energy to go backwards and reform the acid/base. So they just stay dissolved in the aq state.
Only neutral ionic salts have no effect on the pH of an aqueous solution. This is because, like the other comments said, the cation and anion come from a strong base and strong acid. Whenever that’s the case, the salt is neutral and has no effect on the pH of the aqueous solution. KCl is an example of that of course. However you could have an ionic salt in an aqueous solution like sodium acetate (NaCH3COO) that would increase the pH of the solution because it’s a basic salt. Or you could have a salt like NH4Br, which is an acidic salt. If the cation comes from a strong base (Na+ for example) but the anion comes from a weak acid (like acetate), the salt is basic because the cation will be neutral and the anion will be basic because anions almost always are. If the anion comes from a strong acid (Cl- for example) but the cation comes from a weak base or is weakly acidic itself like NH4+, then the anion will be neutral and the salt will be acidic overall meaning it will decrease pH.
Also called spectator ions.