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Acids and Bases
Acids and Bases
Acids & Bases are two classes of chemicals that are widely used in industry and
frequently encountered in daily living. The following are some of the examples:
– Ammonia (a soluble base – thus known as an alkali) is used for making fertilizers and
explosives
– Sodium Hydroxide (another soluble base – thus an alkali) is used for making soap
ACID is any substance that releases hydrogen ions, H+, in aqueous solution.
Determining whether an acid is strong or not is the extent to which it ionizes in a
solution. For example, HCl ionizes completely in a solution. Organic Acid such as
ethanoic acid and like wise are weak acids as they partially ionize in solution. A
reversible equation sign is used for acids to show that the ionization is weak and is
reversible.
Chemical Properties Of Acids
Reaction With Bases
Acids react with bases to form salt and water.
Basicity Of An Acid
All acids release hydrogen ions in solution but not necessarily in the same number per
molecule.
Inorganic Acids
HCl is a monobasic acid as it only releases one hydrogen ion per molecule.
A monobasic acid is an acid that has only one hydrogen ion to donate to a base in
an acid-base reaction. Therefore, a monobasic molecule has only one replaceable
hydrogen atom.
Sulfuric Acid is a dibasic acid as it releases two Hydrogen ion per molecule.
With the basicity of an acid it must be noted that not all hydrogen atoms would
turn into hydrogen ions in a molecule.
Ethanoic acid is monobasic Acid as it releases one Hydrogen ion per molecule.
Ethane dioic Acid is a dibasic acid as it releases two Hydrogen ion per molecule.
They all release OH- ions and the degree to which they do so determine whether the
alkali is strong or weak.
Group I alkalis are strong, they ionize completely.
The pH Scale
The pH Scale is a set of numbers from 0 to 14 which is used to indicate whether an
aqueous solution is acidic, neutral or alkaline.
All aqueous solutions contain hydrogen ions, H+ and hydroxide ion, OH–. The
concentration of these ions differs in solutions of different pH values. Therefore, the pH
of a solution is related to the concentration of hydrogen ions or hydroxide ions present
in a solution.
Based on the definition above, let’s look at three different sections of the pH Scale:
It is NEUTRAL!
It is ACIDIC!
Acids have concentration of hydrogen ions more than the concentration of hydroxide
ions.
The lower the pH value, the greater the concentration of hydrogen ions and the lower
the concentration of hydroxide ions, which means the more acidic the solution.
It is ALKALINE!
The higher the pH value, the greater the concentration of hydroxide ions and the lower
the concentration of hydrogen ions, which means the more alkaline the solution.
Alkalis have more uses in our everyday lives as well as industrial application. As such,
we will look into its Physical & Chemical Properties.
When a mixture of an alkali and ammonium salt is heated, ammonia gas is given off.
OH−+NH+4→NH3+H2O
NH4Cl(s)+NaOH(s)→NaCl(s)+NH3(g)+H2O(l)
(NH4)2SO4(s)+Ca(OH2)(s)→CaSO4(s)+2NH3(g)+2H2O(l)