ACID - BASE
By Pedy Artsanti
Properties of Acidic Solutions
They have a sour taste
Vinegar is 5% acetic acid (tastes sour)
Change the colors of indicators
Blue litmus turns red
React with active metals to produce hydrogen
Mg(s) + H2SO4(aq) MgSO4(aq) + H2(g)
React with metal oxides and hydroxides to form
salts and water
HCl(aq) + LiOH(aq) LiCl(aq) + H2O(l)
Aqueous solutions conduct electric current
Properties of Basic Solutions
They taste bitter and feel slippery
Change color of indicators
Red litmus turns blue
React with acids to form salts and water
HCl(aq) + LiOH(aq) LiCl(aq) + H2O(l)
Aqueous solutions conduct electricity
Acid-Base Theories
THEORY ACID BASE
Lavoisier Oxidized Substance to
Increasing Generality
(1789) Substance be Oxidized
Arrhenius H+ Source OH- Source
(1887)
Brønsted/Lowry H+ Donor H+ Acceptor
(1923)
Lewis e-Pair Acceptor e-Pair Donor
(1923) "Electrophile" "Nucleophile"
unusually unusually
HOMO/LUMO
(1960s) Low LUMO High HOMO
In a very real sense, we can make an
acid be anything we wish; the
differences between the various acid-
base concepts are not concerned with
which is “right” but which is most
convenient to use in a particular
situation. All of the current definitions
of acid-base behavior are compatible
with each other.
Svante August Arrhenius
1859 – 1927, Swedish
chemist.
Proposed the
dissociation theory in
1884.
Discovered in 1896 a
link between global
temperature and CO2.
Received Nobel Prize
in 1903.
Arrhenius Acid
A compound (contain H+) that produces hydronium
(or hydrogen) ions when dissolved in water.
Arrhenius Base
A compound (contain OH-) that produces hydroxide
ions when dissolved in water.
There is no OH- in NH3
The Arrhenius theory is limited, however,
in that it applies only to aqueous solutions
and it does not adequately explain why
such compounds as ammonia (NH3) are
bases.
BRØNSTED - LOWRY
In 1923 J.N. BRØNSTED and T.M. LOWRY
independently suggested that acids be defined as
proton donors and bases as proton acceptors.
General theory for common acids and bases is the
BRØNSTED - LOWRY theory :
“B ronsted
ACIDS DONATE H+ IONS A cid
BASES ACCEPT H+ IONS D onates
Proton”
The Brønsted-Lowry theory successfully explains
how ammonia acts as a base in water, which the
Arrhenius theory fails to do.
The Brønsted-Lowry definition means NH3 is a
BASE in water — and water is itself an ACID
Brønsted-Lowry theory is not limited to reactions
in aqueous solution.
+ -
NH3 + H2O NH4 + OH
Base Acid Acid Base
The stronger an acid, the weaker is its
conjugate base.
The stronger a base, the weaker is its
conjugate acid.
An acid-base reaction is favored in the
direction from the stronger member to the
weaker member of each conjugate acid-base
pair.
A strong acid ionizes essentially completely into H+
(aq) and accompanying anions, and a strong base
dissociates nearly completely into OH- (aq) and
accompanying cations.
The ionization of weak acids and bases are
reversible. They reach a state of equilibrium in
which only a small percent of the acid or base exists
as ions.
Strong Acid and Base
completely ionized
Weak Acid and Base
partially ionized
Concept Test
Which of the
following
"molecular" pictures
best represents a
concentrated solution
of the weak acid HA
with Ka = 10-5?
A, B
Exercise:
Identify the Brønsted-Lowry acids and bases
and their conjugates in each of the following
reaction:
OH- + H2PO4- H2O + HPO42-
Acid Strength
Acid strength increases with decreases
bond strength. The proton is easier to
remove
Bond strength HF>>HCl>HBr>HI
Acid strength HF<<HCl<HBr<HI
HI is a very strong acid
Acid leveling (leveling effect of water)
It is very difficult to differentiate the strengths of
HCl, HBr, and HI in dilute aqueous solutions. This is
because H3O+ is the strongest acid that can exist in
aqueous solution. All acids stronger than H3O+(aq)
react almost completely (i.e. ionize completely) with
water to produce H3O+(aq).
All strong acids have nearly the same strength in water
HI, HBr, HCl
Acid strengths can be distinguished, however, in nonaqueous
solutions
Likewise, any base stronger than OH- reacts
almost completely with H2O to produce OH-(aq)
Not many bases are stronger than OH- (NH2-)
Amphoteric
A compound that can act as both an acid
and a base.
Solvent such as water (H2O), that can both
donate and accept protons are usually
described as amphiprotic.
pH and pOH
In 1909, the Danish biochemist Søren Pieter Lennart
Sørenson proposed a convenient convention that is
still used today.
He let the term pH refer to the power of the
hydrogen ion.
By this, he meant the hydrogen ion concentration
expressed as a negative power of ten: [H+] = 10-pH
Using [H3O+] rather than [H+] and a logarithm (log)
in place of a power of ten, we define the pH of a
solution as the negative of the logarithm of [H3O+].
Autoionization of Water
H2O + H2O <=> H3O+ + OH-
[H3O+][OH-]
K = -----------------
[H2O]2
Kw = K [H2O]2 = [H3O+][OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14
Kw = K [H2O]2 = [H3O+][OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14
[H3O+][H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-14
+ 2
[H3O ] = 1.0 x 10-14
[H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-7
-log([H3O+]) = -log(1.0 x 10-7)
pH = -log([H3O+]) = 7.00
We can also use logarithmic expressions
to replace exponential numbers in
equilibrium constants:
Kw = [H3O+][OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14
- log Kw = - log ([H3O+][OH-]) = - log (1.0 x 10-14)
pKw = - log [H3O+] – log [OH-] = 14.00
pKw = pH + pOH = 14
Acid & Base Strengths, Water & pH (pOH) Scale
Concept Test
A solution with pH=5 is 100 times more acidic
than a solution with a pH =?
Answer:
a.7
b.3
c.0.05
Exercise:
Is the solution 1.0 x 10-8 M HCl
acidic, basic, or neutral?
Polyprotic Acids
A monoprotic acid has one ionizable H atom
per molecule. Acetic acid (CH3COOH) has
four H atom per molecule, but only one of
them is ionizable – it is monoprotic acid.
A polyprotic acid has more than one
ionizable H atom per molecule.
A key feature of polyprotic acids is that
ionizations of the ionizable H atoms occur
separately.
