ACIDS and BASES

Terms
Acids
Taste sour
Cause color change plant
dye
will react with metals to
produce H2 gas
Will react with carbonates,
bicarbonates to produce CO2
Aqueous acid solutions
conduct electricity

 Bases
Taste bitter
Feel slippery
Cause color change plant dye
Aqueous base solutions conduct
electricity

Bronsted Acids and Bases

Bronsted acid= a proton donor

Bronsted base= a proton
acceptor
The ionization of HCl:
HCl(aq) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) +
Cl-(aq)

Conjugate acid-base pair

Acid and its conjugate base or
base and its conjugate acid

Ionization of acetic acid

The bronsted definition also

enables us to classify ammonia
as a base

examples
Identify acid-base pairs for
the ff reactions.

Practice
Which of the following
does not constitute a
conjugate acid-base pair?

Acid-base properties of
water

Water is a unique solvent.

Act as an acid or base.
A very weak electrolyte
Undergoes ionization

Autoionization of water

Autoionization of water

Ion product of water

OF THE [])

(PRODUCT

Pure water at 25 C
o

Acidic, neutral, basic

[H+]=[OH-]
[H+]<[OH-]
[H+]>[OH-]

You can change the [OH-][H+],

but not independently.

The [OH-]in a certain

household ammonia
cleaning solution is
0.0025M. Calculate the
[H+].

Assignment
Calculate the concentration of OHions in a HCl solution whose
hydrogen ion concentration is 1.3 M.

pH-a measurement of
acidity
Negative logarithm of
the hydrogen ion
concentration in (mol/L)

pH values

Given the pH, calculating the

concentration

pH Meter

pOH
Write the relationship of pH
and pOH.

The [H+] in a bottle of table wine

was 3.2 x 10-4 M, right after the
cork was removed. Only half of the
wine was consumed. The other
half, after it had been standing
open to the air for a month was
found to have a [H+] = 1.0 x 10-3
M. Calculate the pH of the wine on

Exercise
In a NaOH solution, [OH-] is
2.9 x 10-4 M. Calculate the pH
of the solution.
(pH + pOH = 14)
Assignment
The OH- ion concentration
of a blood sample is 2.5 x
10-7 M. what is the pH of the
blood?

STRENGTH OF ACIDS AND

BASES
STRONG ACIDS- are strong
electrolytes and are assumed to
ionize completely in water.

STRENGTH OF ACIDS AND

BASES
WEAK ACIDS- ionize only to a
limited extent in water
At equilibrium, aqueous solutions
of weak acids contain a mixture of
nonionized acid molecules, H3O+
ions, and the conjugate base.
Examples: HF, CH3COOH, NH4+

 In this picture,
which do you
think has the
stronger acid?
Zn metal in acid
solutions.

STRENGTH OF ACIDS AND

BASES
STRONG BASES- are strong
electrolytes and ionize
completely in water.

STRENGTH OF ACIDS AND

BASES
WEAK BASES- are weak
electrolytes and ionize
incompletely in water.

PROPERTIES OF CONJUGATEACID BASE PAIRS

If an acid is strong, its conjugate
base has no measurable strength.

PROPERTIES OF
CONJUGATE-ACID BASE
PAIRS
H3O+ is the strongest acid that can
exist in aqueous solution. Acids
stronger than H3O+ react with
water to produce H3O+ and their
conjugate base.

PROPERTIES OF CONJUGATEACID BASE PAIRS

Acids weaker than H3O+ react

with water to a smaller extent,
producing the H3O+ and their
conjugate base.

PROPERTIES OF CONJUGATEACID BASE PAIRS

The OH- ion is the strongest base

that can exist in aqueous
solution. Bases stronger than OHreact with water to produce OHand their conjugate acids.

Example problem
Calculate the pH of (a) a 1.0 x
10-3 M HCl solution and (b) a
0.020 M Ba(OH)2 solution.

PREDICTING DIRECTION OF
EQUILIBRIUM

 WHAT IS THE DIRECTION OF THIS

REACTION?
IS THE EQUILIBRIUM CONSTANT
GREATER OR LESSER THAN 1?

WEAK ACIDS AND

ACID IONIZATION
CONSTANTS
or

Ka
Ka, acid dissociation constant
The equilibrium constant for
weak acids

The greater the Ka,

the stronger the acid,

the more acidic is the solution,
more H3O+ present in the
solution.
(weak acids only)

Calculate the pH of 0.50 M HF

solution at 25oC.

Assumption and
approximation

 How good is this approximation?

Because Ka values for weak acids
are generally known to an accuracy
of 5%, it is reasonable to require
x to be less than 5% of 0.50 M.

Note: not for very dilute

solutions

The quadratic equation

Assignment
Calculate the pH of a 0.036
M of HNO2 solution.(Ka=4.5
x 10-4)
What is the pH of a 0.122 M
monoprotic acid whose Ka is
5.7 x 10-4?

seatwork
Write solutions on
your notes.

Getting Ka using the given

pH
The pH of a 0.10 M solution of
formic acid (HCOOH) is 2.39.
what is the Ka of the acid?

 The pH of a 0.060 M weak

monoprotic acid is 3.44.
Calculate the Ka of the solution.

Another measure of acid

strength (percent ionization)

Using le chateliers
The extent to which a weak acid
ionizes depends on the initial
concentration of the acid.
The more dilute, the greater the
percent ionization.

comparison

Weak bases and base

ionization constants

What is the pH of a
0.40 M ammonia
solution?

Assignment
Calculate the pH of
0.26 M methylamine
solution.
Kb=4.4 x 10-4

Ionization constants of acids

and their conjugate bases

Diprotic, polyprotic acids

 Oxalic acid (H2C2O4) is a

poisonous substance used chiefly
as a bleaching and cleansing
agent. Calculate the
concentrations of all the species
present at equilibrium in a 0.10
M solution.

assignment
Calculate the concentrations of
all the species present at
equilibrium for 0.20 M solution of
oxalic acid.
Ka1= 6.5 x 10-2
Ka2= 6.1 x 10-5

Structure and strength of

acids
Hydrohalic acids
HF<<HCl<HBr<HI

Oxoacids
Electronegativity of the
central atom (within a
group)
HClO3 > HBrO3

 Same central atom but

differ in number of oxygen
The greater the oxidation
number of the central
atom or number of
oxygen attached, the
more acidic is the acid

Organic acids,
carboxylic
acids

Stability of the conjugate

base

ACID-BASE properties of
salts
Salt hydrolysis- reaction of the
cation or the anion of the salt or
both with water.
Usually affects the pH of the
solution

Salts that produce neutral

solutions
Salts from strong acids and
bases or strong bases and acids
produce neutral solutions

Salts that produce

basic solutions
Salt derived from a
strong base and a weak
acid is basic

Problem
Calculate the pH of a 0.15 M solution
of sodium acetate. What is the
percent hydrolysis?
(Kb= 5.6 x 10-10)

Assignment
Calculate the pH of a 0.24 M
sodium formate solution
(HCOONa).
Kb=5.9 x 10-11

Salts that produce

acidic solutions
Salt derived from a
strong acid and a weak
base produce a solution
that is acidic.

SALTS FROM WEAK

ACIDS AND WEAK
BASES
Guidelin
Kb>Ka. If Kb for the anion is
es
greater than the Ka for the
cation, the solution must
be basic.(the anion will
hydrolyze at a greater
extent than the cation) at
equilibrium there will be
more OH- than H3O+

Guidelin
es

Kb< Ka. the solution is

acidic because the cation
will hydrolyze at a greater
extent.

at equilibrium there will

be more H3O+ than OH-

Kb Ka. the solution

nearly neutral.

Practice
Predict whether the solution
of the following is basic,
acidic or nearly neutral.
A) NH4I
B) NaNO2
C) FeCl3
D)NH4F

Anions that act as an acid and

a base