AP Chemistry Question of the Day --38

Welcome back to my blog. Here comes the answer to question 37 I posted yesterday. The correct answer is D. 

When writing net ionic reactions, the following needs to be kept in mind:
1. If the substance is a strong electrolyte, it dissociates in water completely. We write them as dissociated ions. All soluble ionic compounds are strong electrolyte. Although HCl, HBr and HI are covalent compounds, they are strong acid and dissociate completely in water as well. 
2. If the substance is a weak electrolyte, it barely dissociate in water and we write it in its molecular form. All covalent compounds except HCl, HBr and HI are weak electrolyte, including water itself.
3. If the substance is a salt but is not soluble in water, we write it in molecular form too because it is mainly staying in the solid state as a solid.
4. If an ion is on both side of the equation, it is called a spectator ion and it should be cancelled out and not appear in the final net ionic equation. 

Now we look at our question. HClO is a weak acid as stated in the question. Ca(OH)2 is a strong electrolyte. the product Ca(ClO)2 is also a strong electrolyte. Water is a weak electrolyte. As a result the reaction can be written as:

Calcium ion appears on both sides of the equation, we cancel it out and the final net ionic reaction is:

This is answer D.

Following is Question 38 of the series. 

38. 

I will post the answer and explanation tomorrow. 

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