Final answer:
Hydrocyanic acid is the name for HCN. When it reacts with KOH, it produces the salt potassium cyanide (KCN) and the nomenclature for naming acids such as HCN includes adding a 'hydro-' prefix and replacing '-ide' with '-ic acid'.
Step-by-step explanation:
The acid named in the question is hydrocyanic acid with the chemical formula HCN. When hydrocyanic acid (HCN(aq)) is neutralized by potassium hydroxide (KOH(aq)), a balanced chemical equation representing this neutralization reaction can be written as:
HCN(aq) + KOH(aq) → KCN(aq) + H2O(l)
In this reaction, potassium cyanide (KCN) is the salt produced. Understanding the relative strengths of acid and base reactions is crucial, since it determines the direction of the equilibrium. As indicated in the provided information, hydrocyanic acid is a weak acid and potassium cyanide (KCN) is its conjugate base that can behave as a weak base when it reacts with water.
Naming acids involves specific nomenclature rules. For acids derived from anions ending in -ide, the prefix 'hydro-' is added, and the suffix '-ic' replaces the ending 'ide', followed by the word 'acid'. Hence, HCN is correctly named hydrocyanic acid.
Furthermore, the ionization constant for HCN is low (4.9 × 10-10), which means that HCN does not dissociate extensively in water, supporting the statement that HCN is indeed a weak acid.