Question

Question: A treatment recommended in case of accidental swallowing of ammonia-containing cleanser is to drink large amounts of diluted vinegar. Write an equation for the chemical reaction on which this procedure depends.

Short answer

${\text{NH}}_{\text{3}}\left(\mathrm{g}\right){\text{+ CH}}_{\text{3}}\text{COOH}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to {\text{NH}}_{\text{4}}^{\text{+}}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+{\text{CH}}_{\text{3}}{\text{COO}}^{-}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)$

Step-by-step solution

Understanding the concept of Neutralization reaction

A neutralisation reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs when an acid and a base react quantitatively to produce salt and water as the products along with some amount of heat.

$\mathbf{\text{Acid + Base}}\mathbf{\to }\mathbf{\text{Salt + Water}}$

Balanced equation for this process

When accidental swallowing of ammonia containing compound takes place, to nullify serious consequences, a large amount of diluted vinegar is consumed. The reaction involved in this process is:

${\text{NH}}_{\text{3}}\left(\mathrm{g}\right){\text{+ CH}}_{\text{3}}\text{COOH}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to {\text{NH}}_{\text{4}}^{\text{+}}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+{\text{CH}}_{\text{3}}{\text{COO}}^{-}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)$

This is an acid-base neutralization reaction, where ${\mathrm{NH}}_3$ it serves as the base as it is the proton acceptor and ${\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{COO}}^{-}$ is the acid, as it is the proton donor.