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Is Sodium Sulfide A Base

On whether sodium sulfide is a base
or ask: "Can sodium sulfide be a base?" To say: "If you want to understand this, you should investigate its properties."

A base can ionize hydroxide ions ($OH ^ - $) in water, and make the solution alkaline compounds. Look at sodium sulfide ($Na_2S $), which is ionized in water, $Na_2S = 2Na ^ ++ S ^ {2 -} $, and no ionization of hydroxide ions was initially seen.

However, $S ^ {2 -} $has hydrolytic properties. In water, $S ^ {2 - } + H_2O\ rightleftharpoons HS ^ - + OH ^ - $, this step of hydrolysis, the concentration of hydroxide ions in the solution gradually increases. And $HS ^ - $can also be further hydrolyzed, $HS ^ - + H_2O\ rightleftharpoons H_2S + OH ^ - $, although the degree of hydrolysis in the second step is weaker than the first step, it also contributes to the increase of hydroxide ions.

Therefore, the sodium sulfide solution is alkaline. However, in terms of the stringency of the definition of base, sodium sulfide does not directly produce hydroxide ions during ionization, which is different from typical bases (such as sodium hydroxide, $NaOH = Na ^ ++ OH ^ - $).

In summary, sodium sulfide directly ionizes hydroxide ions in a non-traditional sense, but it can make the solution alkaline due to hydrolysis in water, which is partially characterized by alkali.