Question

Which of the following species is amphoteric in nature?

• A. $H_{3}O^{+}$
• B. $ HSO_{3}^{-} $
• C. $ SO_{3}^{2-} $
• D. $ SO_{4}^{2-} $

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

The species which act as both an acid and a base is called amphoteric,
e.g., $HSO _{3}^{2-} . \underset{\text{acid}}{ HSO _{3}^{2-}} \rightarrow H ^{+}+ SO _{3}^{2-} \underset{\text { base }}{ HSO _{3}^{-}}+ H ^{+} \rightarrow H _{2} SO _{3}$