Acids, Bases and Buffers

History and Definitions

Your task is to research the history of
acids and bases.
Doing this you will need to find out
about Arrhenius, Bronsted & Lowry and
Lewis.
By the end of the lesson you will also
need to definitions of acids and baseswith examples as equations.

Bronsted-Lowry
Bronsted-Lowry acids and bases
A Bronsted-Lowry acid is any substance
from which a proton can be removed
A Bronsted-Lowry base is any substance
that can remove a proton from an acid

A single proton doesnt really exist in

a solution. Acids only release protons
if a base can accept it.

Conjugate Acid-Base Pairs

Instead of a floating proton in
solution, water molecules accept
protons to form hydronium ions, H3O+
(aq)

This is sometimes called an oxonium

ion.

This is an
acid

Which one is the base and

conjugate acid between these
two?

This is a thing
that can accept
a proton, its the
acids conjugate
base

An acid-base pair is a set of two

species that transform into each
other by gain or loss of a proton

Calculations
Practice questions on page 139.

pH

pH
Dont ask what it means. Noone
knows.
pH is all about the concentration of
hydrogen ions in solution.
It is a logarithmic scale of
concentration of hydrogen ions.

pH calculations

pH = -log[H (aq)]
+

[H+] = 10pH

Your Calculator

Calculations
Attempt calculations on page 141 of
text book.

Strong and Weak Acids

Strong Acids
Strong acids completely dissociate in
aqueous solution.

Only a few exist, the rest are weak.

HCl -HI
HNO3 -HClO4
H2SO4
HBr

Weak Acids
Weak acids only partially dissociate
in aqueous solution, the equilibrium
lies well to the left.

Ka The Acid Dissociation

Constant
A weak acid has the following equilbrium:
HA H+ + A The expression for the acid dissociation
constant is:
Ka =
Units are always:

Ka Context
A strong acid has a high Ka value.
A weak acid has a small Ka value.
Can also convert these into logs, which
makes the numbers more manageable.
pKa = -log10Ka
Ka = 10-pKa
Taking logs inverts the values. High pKa
is a weak acid and vice versa.

pH of Strong Acids
For a strong acid:
HA(aq)

H+(aq) + A-(aq)

HA totally dissociates: [HA] = [H+]

Use pH = -log[H+]

A bottle of HCl has a concentration of

1.22 x10-3 mol dm-3. What is the pH?

pH of Weak acids
For a weak acid:
HA(aq)

H+(aq) + A-(aq)

HA only partially dissociates.

H+ and A- are formed equally. [H+]=[A-]
In our equation for Ka: [H+][A-] = [H+]2
Due to the small partial dissociation we
can assume that the equilibrium
concentration of HA is the same as the start
concentration. This gives us the equation:

pH of Weak Acids
Ka = [H+]2
[HA]
Or
[H+] = Ka x [HA]

Weak Acid Practice

A sample of nitric acid, HNO2, has the
concentration 0.055 mol dm-3. Ka =
4.70 x10-4 mol dm-3 at 25oC. Calculate
the pH.
Ka =
[H]+ =
pH =

Kw

Ionisation of Water
H2O

H+ + OH-

equilibrium
Kc = [H+][OH-]
[H2O]

Kw
Rearranging this gives us
Kc x [H2O] = [H+] [OH-]
[H2O] is always 55.6 mol dm-3
Kc is a constant too. We can create a
new constant Kw

Kw = [H+] [OH-]

Significance of Kw
At 25oC Kw = 1.00 x 10-14 mol2 dm-6
This number is found on your data sheet.

This is due to the pH of water being 7.

So [H+] = [OH-] = 10-7
This value of Kw lets us calculate [OH-]
if we know [H+].

pH of Bases

pH of Bases
Using the Kw equation we can calculate
the pH of a strong base.
We wont have to calculate pH for a
weak base.
The strength of a base is a measure of
its dissociation in solution to produce
OH- ions.
Exactly like acids.

pH Calculations
To work out the pH of a base we need
to know two things
[H+]
Kw
For a strong base it totally
dissociates.
[OH-] = [base]

Example
A solution of KOH has a concentration
of 0.050 mol dm-3. What is its pH?

Kw =
[H+] =
pH =