Question

Ammonium sulphate + __________________ potassium sulfate + ammonia + water

Please fill in the blank.

Answer 1

Answer:

Potassium Hydroxide Solution =

or

Potassium Hydroxide =

Answer 2

Answer:  Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)

Explanation:

Since we know the products and one of the reactions, we can work backward to discover what the other reactant may be.

As it is in the question, we can map the reactants and product:

Reactants                   Product

Ammonium                 Ammonia

Sulfate                         Sulfate

________                   Potassium

________                    Water

Since the reaction will yield Potassium and water, the likely reactant is Potassium Hydroxide (KOH). This is because we know that Ammonium lost a Hydrogen atom that could combine with the Hydroxide radical to form water.

This becomes clear when we consider the net ionic equation:

Ammonium sulphate + Potassium Hydroxide → potassium sulfate + ammonia + water

if we write this a balanced chemical equation:

(NH₄)₂SO₄   +  2KOH  →  K₂SO₄ + 2NH₃ + 2H₂O

if we write the reaction as an ionic equation

2NH₄⁺ + SO₄⁻ + 2K⁺ + 2OH⁻ → 2K⁺ + SO₄⁻ + 2NH₃ + 2H₂O

if we remove the ions that appear on both the reactant and product side (spectator ions)

2NH₄⁺ + 2OH⁻ → + 2NH₃ + 2H₂O