Answer to Question #75968 in Inorganic Chemistry for Mahesh

Question

What is ammonium hydroxide ? explain with a suitable equation why they the term is misleading &what would be a better term for it.

Answer 1

Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonical liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH3(aq). It is sometimes thought of as a solution of ammonium hydroxide. Although the name ammonium hydroxide suggests an alkali with composition [NH4+][OH−], it is actually impossible to isolate samples of NH4OH. The ions NH4+ and OH− do not account for a significant fraction of the total amount of ammonia except in extremely dilute solutions

In aqueous solution, ammonia deprotonates a small fraction of the water to give ammonium and hydroxide according to the following equilibrium:

NH3 + H2O ⇌ NH4+ + OH−

The best designation for ammonium hydroxide is ammonia hydrate