A white solid can be purified from lemon juice. This solid tastes sour. When placed into water the solution conducts electricity and has a pH of 3.0. The solution turns litmus paper red. When the white powder is reacted with sodium hydroxide, a different white powder is formed which tastes salty. What kind of substance is the original white powder isolated from lemon juice?

I believe that the original white powder isolated from lemon juice is an acid. Some characteristics of an acid is being described here like tasting sour, conducts electricity when in water and having a pH less than 7. Also, turning the litmus paper into red indicates that it is an acid. Hope this answers the question. Have a nice day.

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OlaMacgregor OlaMacgregor · Answer 2 · 2019-10-11T11:16:42+02:00

Explanation:

When a solution is acidic in nature then it means its pH range is from 1 to 6.9. And, in an acidic solution there are more number of hydrogen ([tex]H^{+}[/tex]) or hydronium ([tex]H_{3}O^{+}[/tex]) ions as compared to hydroxide ions ([tex]OH^{-}[/tex]).

Some properties of acids are as follows.

Acids taste sour.

Acids show a pH value less that 7.

Acids release hydrogen ion upon dissociation in water of polar solvents.

Acids turn blue litmus into red.

Now, since the white solid substance isolated from lemon juice shows all the properties of being an acid.

Thus, we can conclude that the original white powder isolated from lemon juice is an acidic substance.