Acids & Bases

Neha Kapil Scientific Officer NITRA

Properties of Acids

the word 'acid' comes from the Latin acere, which means 'sour'

taste sour (don't taste them!)...

acids change litmus (a blue vegetable dye) from blue to red

 their aqueous (water) solutions conduct electric

current (are electrolytes)

react with bases to form salts and water

evolve hydrogen gas (H2) upon reaction with an active metal (such as alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, zinc, aluminum)

"an acidic substance is one whose molecular unit contains at least one hydrogen atom that can dissociate, or ionize, when dissolved in water, producing a hydrated hydrogen ion and an anion."

Examples of Common Acids

Citric acid (from certain fruits and veggies, notably citrus fruits) Ascorbic acid (vitamin C, as from certain fruits) Vinegar (5% acetic acid) Carbonic acid (for carbonation of soft drinks)

Lactic acid (in buttermilk)

Hydrochloric Acid HCl H+(aq) + Cl(aq)

Sulfuric Acid H2SO4 H+(aq) + HSO4(aq) Hydrogen Sulfite ion HSO3(aq) H+(aq) + SO32(aq) Acetic Acid H3CCOOH H+(aq) + H3CCOO(aq)

An Acid Is A Substance

That Yields
An Excess Of Hydrogen Ions When Dissolved In Water

Organic Acids

Formic Acid
This, the simplest of the carboxylic acids, is the chemical weapon that Nature has given ants and bees. It was first distilled from ants, but is now made synthetically. Its main uses are as a preservative and antibacterial agent in livestock feed.

oxalic Acid
Just two carboxyl groups joined together, this acid has a special ability to grab up divalent metal ions The acid occurs in many plants, notably rhubarb (it is what makes the leaves poisonous), parsley and spinach. If you have ever noticed a funny feeling in your mouth after drinking milk with a rhubarb desert, it is due to precipitation of calcium oxalate. This same solid is often a major component of kidney stones, and it contributes to the miseries of gout.

lactic Acid

Structurally, lactic acid is both an alcohol and a carboxylic acid not all that uncommon. We know it as the acid found in sour milk, yogurt, and in tired muscles. When the blood cannot deliver enough oxygen to oxidize glucose all the way to CO2 and water, your muscles go into a muchless-energy-efficient "anaerobic" mode that generates lactate.

In milk products, lactic acid is produced in about the same way by acidophilus bacteria that eat the lactose ("milk sugar") and who don't know how to utilize oxygen.

citric Acid

Although it is one part alcohol and three parts acid, citric acid is quite weak, but nevertheless strong enough to make it unpleasant to suck on a lemon, of which it can comprise as much as 8% of the dry weight of this fruit. Biochemists know it as part of the citric acid cycle, a sequence of reactions involved in extracting energy from the oxidative metabolism of foods. Its major industrial use is as a food flavoring and preservative agent; large quantities are used to make soft drink beverages. The acid also finds use in cleaning agents.

citric Acid

No carboxyl groups here, but the OH group one carbon away from the double bond is still fairly acidic. One of its geometric isomers, L-ascorbic acid, is more widely known as Vitamin C; discovery of the essential role of this substance in preventing the disease scurvy (from which its name is derived) yielded two Nobel prizes in 1937. The major industrial use of ascorbic acid is as an antioxidant, so it is often added to foods and other materials as a preservative. nts.

citric Acid

No carboxyl groups here, but the OH group one carbon away from the double bond is still fairly acidic. One of its geometric isomers, L-ascorbic acid, is more widely known as Vitamin C; discovery of the essential role of this substance in preventing the disease scurvy (from which its name is derived) yielded two Nobel prizes in 1937. The major industrial use of ascorbic acid is as an antioxidant, so it is often added to foods and other materials as a preservative. nts.

Properties of Bases

Taste Bitter (Don't Taste Them!)

Feel Slippery Or Soapy (Don't Arbitrarily Touch

Them!)

Bases Don't Change The Color Of Litmus; They

Can Turn Red (Acidified) Litmus Back To Blue

Their Aqueous (Water) Solutions Conduct And

Electric Current (Are Electrolytes)

React With Acids To Form Salts And Water

Examples of Common Bases

Detergents Soap Lye (NaOH)

Household Ammonia (Aqueous)

Just as an acid is a substance that liberates hydrogen ions into solution, a base yields hydroxide ions when dissolved in water: NaOH(s) Na+(aq) + OH(aq)

A Base Is A Substance

That Yields An Excess Of

Hydroxyl Ions When

Dissolved In Water

Atom
Atoms are basic components of the matter . Atoms are the smallest part of matter that
have chemical properties characteristic of a particular chemical element.

Most of the mass of an atom is due to the

atomic nucleus.

The nucleus consists of protons which have

a positve electrical charge and neutrons which have no charge.

This is a representation of a carbon atom

pH

 pH is the measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a

solution.

It is formally a measure of the activity of dissolved

hydrogen ions (H+), but for very dilute solutions.

 the molarity (molar concentration) of H+

may be used as a substitute with little loss of accuracy.

In solution, hydrogen ions occur as a

number of cations including hydronium ions (H3O+).

 The concentration of hydrogen ions in a

solution is very important for living things.

This is because, since the hydrogen ions

are positively charged they alter the charge environment of other molecules in solution.

 By putting different forces on the

molecules, the molecules change shape from their normal shape.

This is particularly important for proteins in

solution because the shape of a protein is
related to its function.

 The concentration of hydrogen ions is

commonly expressed in terms of the pH scale.

Low pH corresponds to high hydrogen ion

concentration and vice versa.

 A substance that when added to water

increases the concentration of hydrogen

ions(lowers the pH) is called an acid.

A substance that reduces the

concentration of hydrogen ions(raises the pH) is called a base.

 Finally some substances enable solutions

to resist pH changes when an acid or base

is added.

Such substances are called buffers. Buffers are very important in helping
organisms maintain a relatively constant pH.

Neutralization

Acids and bases react with one another to yield two products:
Water, an ionic compound known as a salt.

This kind of reaction is called a neutralization reaction.

Concept Note