Why is baking soda basic?

Answer 1

Baking soda is chemically known as sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate, the resulting salt of an acid-base reaction. When placed in water, the sodium ion breaks away from the hydrogen carbonate ion. The sodium ion is neither acid nor base. However, the hydrogen carbonate is the conjugate (resulting) base left from the weak acid. The pH of the water in the pool will increase becoming more basic as more baking soda is added. It is a very cheap yet easily dissolved and effective way to increase the pH of your pool if you're not using it in an extremely large pool and you don't need a huge increase in pH. My pool holds 15,000 gallons and I use $0.50/ lb baking soda all the time. However, your shock treatment may be causing the drop in pH. Many of the products currently on the market will cause this drop with lithium hypochlorite being one of the worse followed by calcium hypochlorite. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

baking soda is a basic because it is used as a nutralizer

Answer 3

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. In small amounts the bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) reacts with water to produce hydroxide ions.

HCO3- + H2O --> H2CO3 + OH-

Answer 4

It reduces the acidity of any acidic solution - which is part of the definition of a base.