What is the purpose of cream of tartar in baking powder?
Baking powder consists of a mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar. In the production of carbon dioxide gas, baking powder acts differntly from baking soda. When water is added to baking powder, it just dissolves. But when water is added to baking powder, CO2 is produced. What’s the purpose of cream of tartar & how does it accomplish it’s purpose ( in baking powder)? I meant when water is added to baking soda, it just dissolves. Baking powder and soda both have the same active ingredient, the bicarbonate monoanion (HCO3-). When bicarbonate is protonated it becomes carbonic acid (H2CO3), which very quickly decomposes into CO2 and water. If the water is acidic the formation of carbonic acid speeds up a great deal, because protons are easier to find. Cream of tartar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_of_tartar) is a carboxylic acid, and acid phosphate of soda (sodium biphosphate, which is in my Clabber Girl baking powder instead of tartaric acid) is also an acid. As I said, acid spee
