Potentially stupid question

KeleGal

This may sound like a stupid question to some but when someone states a compound/substance is in salt form is that the equivalent to powder form or..????

locum-motion

Not quite.

Think of a Chlorine atom. It can be ionically bound to a Hydrogen atom, to form Hydrogen Chloride which is usually called Hydrochloric Acid. Or it can be ionically bound to a Sodium atom, which makes Sodium Chloride which is usually called salt (ie ordinary table salt)

HCl is the acid of Chlorine.
NaCl is the Sodium salt of Chlorine.

In either case, mix it with water and you get Cl- ions in the solution.

Now, instead of the simple case of Cl, imagine a more complex, covalently-bonded molecule. Such as, for example 2-propylpentanoic acid, which also goes by the name valproic acid and is a drug used for epilepsy.
It looks like this:



The H atom on the left is ionically bonded to the rest, which is covalently bonded to itself.

Knock off the H, and replace it with an Na.

You've now got Sodium 2-propylpentanoate, which is also known as Sodium Valproate. Or you could also describe it as "the sodium salt of Valproic Acid".

Replace it with a K, and it's potassium 2-propylpentanoate or "the potassium salt of Valproic Acid".

Both Sodium Valproate and Valproic Acid, when dissolved in water (or another liquid like blood), give rise to the presence of Valproate- ions in the solution.