Question

Give one chemical test to distinguish between the following pair of compounds: Formic acid and acetic acid.

Answer 1

Formic acid gives a silver mirror with tollen’s reagent.

\[\ce{\underset{\text{Formic acid}}{HCOOH} + Ag_2O -> H_2O + CO_2 + \underset{\text{Silver mirror}}{2Ag v}}\]

Acetic acid does not give this test.