sodium bicarb AND citric acid powder?

LT72884

Ok, quick question. I know that baking soda is great for heartburn, but why is it in certain medicines, they have sodium bicarb AND citric acid powder? My wife actually uses those two compounds to make bath fizzies. She adds esentual oils to them for health benifits and smells. haha. Anyway, once the sodium bicarb and citric acid mix in the water, they bubble and perform a basic base/acid reaction. But doesnt that mean, after the reaction, that the baking soda is now neutral and therefore will not stop the heart burn as well as just pure baking soda in water?

thanks

jedishrfu

Here's something that might answer part of your question:

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodch...f/blbaking.htm

and the wiki article under the sports topic mentions that it may be slightly toxic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

symbolipoint

Interesting question. My guess, probably for agitation, mixing. My guess further is that there would be enough bicarbonate to be excess of the citric acid. Actual quantities, I really do not know.

LT72884

thanks guys for some light and knowledge. i love this stuff, hence why i am an premed/engineering student. I have only had gen chem classes and so trying to see how things really work makes me excited. im willing to bet that there is more sodium bicarb than the citric acid so therofre it still acts as a acid reducer.

I usually use pepcid ac since it is magnisuim, calcium and a mixture of NH2, sulfur and a we bit of ox. And pepsin, which is part of pepcid ac comes from the pepermint plant. thats what makes it soothing. Thats what i usually use for acid(once or twice a month) but i was out and being a student, 14$ for some is a we bit high for me. haha so i bought some antiacid powder from the store. thats when i noticed what it was.. haha.

thanks guys. i want to learn more about this stuff.

Borek

Looks like the only correct thing here is the spelling of "calcium".

chemisttree

:: First time I've seen famotidine described that way!

LT72884

now now, i was somewhat close. haha. im still learnin all this stuff. its calcium carbonate (800mg) and magnesium hydroxide(165 mg) with Famotidine (10mg). calcium and magnesium calm stomach acid and sour stomach while the Famotidine does its thing with the cells of the body.

the Famotidine is.. well you all know o chem so you can imagine what it is. sulfamoylprop something or another. It is some sort of organic compound.

oh another thing i thought interesting, do not know if it ios related, but i know that they use sulfur to react with enzymes to create something else. I remember that from bio chem class but i dont know if thats why they used sulfur in this case..

anyway, my original question was why the citric acid in some acid reducers. i know citric acid a is a weak acid and pretty much is done away with from the baking soda. So are they putting it in the antacids as a liabilty issue? IE, to much sodium and or bicarb intake? thanks

256bits

Sodium bicarbonate and citric acid when mixed with water will give that delightful looking fizz. The product is sodium citrate a conjugate base of a weak acid, and that would give a buffer solution to control the pH of a solution, in this case possibly if you ingest enough of the antiacid, the solution in your stomach.
And the tangy taste is also kind of refreshing.