Question

Question #f5310

Answer 1

`"NH"_4^(+)`
`"H"_3"O"^(+)`

Explanation:

The ammonium ion is formed when a molecule of ammonia, `"NH"_3`, accepts a proton, `"H"^(+)`.

This tells you two things

• the ammonium ion will have a total of four hydrogen atoms, one more than the ammonia molecule
• the ammonium ion will have an overall `(1+)` net charge coming from the added proton*

This means that the chemical formula for the ammonium ion will be

`"NH"_4^(+)`

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The hydronium ion is formed when a molecule of water, `"H"_2"O"`, accepts a proton, `"H"^(+)`.

This of course means that the hydronium ion will have three hydrogen atoms and a net overall charge of `(1+)`. Its chemical formula will thus be

`"H"_3"O"^(+)`


An alternative way of thinking about these ions is that they represent the conjugate acids of their respective bases, ammonia and water.

When a base accepts a proton from an acid, the compound that's formed is called a conjugate acid. In this case, the ammonium ion is the conjugate acid of ammonia and the hydronium ion is the conjugate acid of water.