What is the difference between NaOH and NaOH?

Answer 1

• NaOH and KOH both are strong alkalis the difference is in their solubilities in organic solvents and organic reactions for example alkyl halides undergo substitution in aq. NaOH but elimination in alcoholic KOH'''

• KOH (like NaOH) is hygroscopic. Even at high temperatures, solid KOH does not dehydrate readily.

• Approximately 121 g of KOH will dissolve in 100 mL of water at room temperature (compared with 100 g of NaOH in the same volume).

• KOH, like NaOH, serves as a source of OH−, a highly nucleophilic anion that attacks polar bonds in both inorganic and organic materials.While KOH and NaOH are both strong bases, potassium is further down on the Periodic Table than sodium. That gives you valuable information regarding the nature of these elements. A general rule of thumb is that atoms are more reactive going down a column, and are more reactive as you go toward the left of a row.

• The pKb value of potassium hydroxide is 0.5, while the value for sodium hydroxide is 0.2 (the smaller the value of pKb, the stronger the base). Therefore, NaOH is stronger than KOH. In addition, sodium is less electronegative than potassium, so NaOH is more willing to release the hydroxy group and it is stronger base.

• Their first ionization energies are different as well: 496kJ/mol for sodium, 419kJ/mol for potassium. The relatively small excess of hydroxide- released by KOH compared with NaOH doesn't seem like it would impart that much added reactivity.

• In industrial scale, KOH is more expensive than NaOH (depends on concentration of KOH), so NaOH is widely used instead of KOH. But they both shows many similarities.

• NaOH creates the solids and KOH creates liquid soap.