A salt is formed from:

• A. Anion from a base and a cation from an acid
• B. Cation from a base and an anion from an acid
• C. Two cations
• D. A neutral compound

Answer: (B)

In acid-base reactions that form a salt, the ions that end up in the salt come from each reactant: the cation comes from the base, and the anion comes from the acid. The hydrogen ion from the acid and the hydroxide from the base combine to make water, while the remaining pieces—the cation from the base and the anion from the acid—pair to form the ionic salt. For example, NaOH (base) provides Na+, and HCl (acid) provides Cl− to give NaCl as the salt, with water produced separately from H+ and OH−. This is why the correct description is a salt formed from a cation from a base and an anion from an acid. The other options don’t fit the typical formation: salts aren’t made from two cations, they aren’t just a neutral single molecule, and an anion from a base isn’t what combines with the base’s cation to form the salt.