That this reaction does not take place to a measurable extent does not prevent us from knowing
that the ions produced would be the acidic and basic species. Therefore, we can predict that Na 2 SO 3
would be a base in liquid SO 2 because it contains SO 3 2 and SOCl 2 would be an acid because it could
formally produce SO 2 if it were to dissociate. Thus, we predict that Na 2 SO 3 and SOCl 2 would react
according to the equation