magnesium aren't bases, yet they're producing salts.  According to the definition of a salt from the book, the cation must come from a base.  The cations here come from metals.  Is that an incomplete definition of "salt" or is there a theoretical base out there that generally produces MgCl2 and ZnBr2?

Chemistry
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ISBN:9781305957404
Author:Steven S. Zumdahl, Susan A. Zumdahl, Donald J. DeCoste
Publisher:Steven S. Zumdahl, Susan A. Zumdahl, Donald J. DeCoste
Chapter1: Chemical Foundations
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My book says in the glossary for the definition of salt that it is "Any ionic compound whose cation comes from a base and whose anion comes from an acid."  That's their definition of "salt."  

Then it has this equation in the middle of the text:

Zn+2HBr -->  ZnBr2 + H2

Then it says, "Many metals undergo displacement reactions with acids, producing salts and hydrogen gas."  Then it gives another example of magnesium and hydrochloric acid forming H2 and MgCl2.  

I'm confused, because zinc and magnesium aren't bases, yet they're producing salts.  According to the definition of a salt from the book, the cation must come from a base.  The cations here come from metals.  Is that an incomplete definition of "salt" or is there a theoretical base out there that generally produces MgCl2 and ZnBr2?   

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Here a student provides a definition of salt from his textbook.But he has doubt because definition of shalt from his textbook says that cation comes from base form salt when reacts with acid.

But another reaction shows that zinc when reacts with acid form salt.


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