Chapter 18: Don't Drop The Acid

Did you know that tartaric, malic, and lactic acids look like this if you use chromatography to look at
them? Neither did I.

By Olivier Colas (http://olouf.fr) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Section 18.1: What are Acids, Bases, and Neutral Compounds?
If you've ever watched a horror movie, you've undoubtedly seen somebody melted with an acid. Given
that all horror movies are the same, it was probably some teenager who took his girlfriend out to the old
factory at the edge of town to make out, when the bad guy somehow threw him into the pot of acid that
just happened to be sitting out in the open. This may sound ridiculous, but is, in fact, the most common
method by which people are killed by acids.1

Spoiler: This kitten then jumps out and scares the survivors.

In reality, acids aren't just limited to creepy old buildings. They're all around us. And inside of us.
And just about everywhere else. Unfortunately, there are three different common ways of defining
what an acid is. Let's take a look at them.

Method 1: Arrhenius method

Way back in the old days a dude named Svante Arrhenius came up with a very simple method for
determining what an acid is. In this thinking, an acid gives off H+ ions (hydronium ions) when placed
in water, and a base gives off OH- ions (hydroxide ions) when placed in water. By this definition,
neutral compounds can do pretty much whatever they want, as long as they don't give off either
hydroxide or hydronium ions.

To put these terms in cool equation form, we can imagine acids and bases in the following way:

General form of acid dissociation: HA → H+ + A-

Example of acid dissociation: HBr → H+ + Br-

General form of base dissociation: BOH → B+ + OH-

Example of base dissociation: Ca(OH)2 → Ca+2 + 2 OH-

Neutral compounds, straightforwardly enough, are compounds that don't have anything to do with
either the H+ or OH- ions. A good rule of thumb: If it doesn't contain H or OH in the formula, it's
neutral by the Arrhenius definition.

1 I totally made that up.

 What's a hydronium Ion?

Acids contain hydronium ions. As mentioned above, these ions have the
formula H+. However, since we usually talk about aqueous solutions (i.e.
solutions containing water), we can also write the formula as H3O+. And
if we're really feeling crazy, we can just refer to it as a “proton” because
hydrogen atoms that lose an electron are really just protons. Depending
on what you're doing and on your mood, any or all of these are correct. Why yes, my name is Hydronium.
How did you know?

Method 2: Brønsted-Lowry Acids and Bases

Brønsted-Lowry acids are chemical compounds that give H+ ions to other chemical compounds during
a reaction. Brønsted-Lowry bases are compounds that grab H+ ions during these reactions. And here's
the kicker – you can't have a Brønsted-Lowry acid without also having a Brønsted-Lowry base.

If you think about it for a second, this makes sense. If a Brønsted-Lowry acid is something that gives
up H+ ions, it stands to reason that they have to give that H+ ion to something else. That something else
is the Brønsted-Lowry base. Let's take a look at an example:

HBr + NaOH → NaBr + H2O

What's the acid and base in this reaction? Well, given that HBr is named “hydrobromic acid”, it's
probably not too much of a surprise to guess that it's an acid. By process of elimination, this leaves
NaOH as our base. OK, that makes sense, but what (besides the name) makes them acidic and basic?

In this reaction, HBr gives up its H+ ion. This is why we call it an acid. This H+ ion is then grabbed by
the hydroxide ion in NaOH, making NaOH a base. Pretty straightforward, eh?

Now, here's where it gets interesting: It turns out that there are two acids and two bases in this
equation. One of the acids, as we talked about is HBr, but the other is H2O. One of the bases is NaOH,
and the other is NaBr. How does this happen?

All chemical reactions are officially equilibria, which means that they can proceed in either the forward
or backwards directions. In this equation, we show the reagents as HBr and NaOH, but there will
always be a reverse reaction that occurs when NaBr reacts with H2O. This reverse reaction looks like
this:

NaBr + H2O → HBr + NaOH

In this reaction, water is the compound that gives up an H+ ion, forming NaOH in the process.
Likewise, NaBr grabs this H+ ion from water, forming HBr. As a result, if we write the equation in this
form, water is an acid and NaBr is a base.

Now, let's write the equation as it actually looks – as an equilibrium:

HBr + NaOH ⇌ NaBr + H2O

As we mentioned before, HBr loses H+ (it's an acid) and Br turns up on the other side of the equation in
the form of the base NaBr. Because the NaBr is formed when HBr loses H+, we refer to NaBr as being
an acid and NaBr as its conjugate base. Likewise, NaOH is a base because it gains H+, and H2O is an
acid because it gives off H+. This means that NaOH is a base and water is its conjugate acid. This is
probably a good time to write the official definitions of these compounds down:

• Conjugate acid-base pairs are compounds that are related to one another in an acid-base
reaction by the gaining or losing of H+ ions.
• Conjugate bases are the compounds that form when acids lose H+ ions and conjugate acids are
the compounds that form when bases gain H+ ions.

As a result, if we were to draw the equation by pairing up the acids and their respective bases, it would
look like this:

Why Bother With This New Definition?

You may be wondering why we need another definition of acids and bases. After all, the Arrhenius definition
did a fine job of telling us that HCl is an acid! Well, it turns out that there are at least two good reasons for
this new definition.

Reason 1: Ammonia.
Ammonia (NH3) is known to be a basic compound. However, this doesn't match up with the Arrhenius
definition of a base because it doesn't contain any hydroxide (OH-) ions.

Fortunately, the Brønsted-Lowry definition explains this. Though NH3 doesn't give off OH- ions in water, it
does pull H+ ions away from water to form them in water. This explains how ammonia, which has no OH -
ions of its own, can be a base:

NH3 + H2O ⇌ NH4+ + OH-

Reason 2: Water is both an acid and a base

In the equation above, we saw how water acts as an acid when you put it into contact with ammonia (i.e. it
gave H+ to ammonia to form OH- as its conjugate base. However, if we were instead to combine water with
hydrobromic acid, we'd see it gain a hydronium ion to form H3O+. In this instance, water acts as a base:

H2O + HBr → H3O+ + Br-

In this reaction, water gained an H+ from HBr, which means it acted like a base.

This seems weird, but it's not. Just as you may act generous with some people and not with others, water
sometimes gives away H+ ions and other times grabs them. Acidity or basicity is not simply a property of
water – its a description of what water does in a particular chemical environment.
Method 3: Lewis Acids and Bases

Just as the Brønsted-Lowry definition of acids and bases expanded upon the Arrhenius definition, we
find that the Lewis definition expands upon the Brønsted-Lowry. Heck, let's just write it out:

Lewis acids are compounds that accept a pair of electrons in a reaction, while Lewis bases donate a
pair of electrons. Since it may not be immediately clear what this means, let's imagine the following
(and hopefully, by now familiar) reaction:

H2O + HBr ⇌ H3O+ + Br-

From the last page, the whole “conjugate acid/base pair” thing should be evident. However, let's look
at what happens when we look at how this reaction occurs:

As you can see, it's the same reaction. However, in this picture you can see that one of the lone pairs
on water grabs H+ from HBr, forming a hydronium ion H3O+ and the bromide ion. As a result,
Brønsted-Lowry acids are Lewis acids, and Brønsted-Lowry bases are Lewis bases.2

The reason that the definition of acids and bases was expanded was not to explain how H+ and OH- ions
move around, but to describe a wider variety of reactions based on what electrons do. For example,
even though there are no hydronium or hydroxide ions present, the following reaction involves the
reaction of a Lewis acid BF3 with a Lewis base (F-):

Let’s put some numbers on it: The joy of pH

In the past few pages we’ve had a lot of fun talking about the different definitions of acids and bases,
and I know that you’d like to continue learning about such theoretical constructs.  Unfortunately, it’s
time to start talking about everybody’s favorite topic: pH

What does pH stand for?

pH is a term that means either “potential hydrogen” or “power of hydrogen”, depending on who you talk to.
In essence, what it tells us is that the acidity of a solution is based on how much of the hydronium ion (H+)
is present in the solution. Acidic solutions have lower pH values and basic solutions have higher pH values.

Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acids, and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are said to
be bases. If a solution has a pH of exactly 7, we say it’s neutral3. This is what you need to know if your
teacher asks you, so commit it to memory.

2 The opposite is not always true, as we'll see in a moment.

3 Technically, solutions are only neutral if the pH is equal to exactly 7. However, solutions with a pH near 7 are usually
informally referred to as neutral, even though it's not technically true.
The following figure shows you the pH of some common materials you may have seen around the
house4.  Diagrams like this are standard in all chemistry textbooks, so I’ve tried to make it more
interesting by using more interesting solutions than books usually use.

pH values of common materials

Stomach acid: pH~1

Delicious peach-citrus Fresca: pH ~2.5
Soy sauce: pH~4.8
Pee: pH ~ 6
Poop: pH ~7-7.5
Boogers: pH ~8
Toothpaste: pH~10 I feel bad for the people who had to figure
Drāno: pH~14 out the pH values for these.

Indicators:

If you want to find the pH of a solution, you’ll have to use a pH indicator to figure it out.  Indicators
are chemical compounds that change color when the hydronium ion concentration of the solution
changes. In chemistry, we usually use the symbol “[H+]” to indicate the molarity of the hydronium ion
concentration in a solution.

You’re probably familiar with the example of litmus, which is red in acidic solutions and blue in basic
solutions.  You may be less familiar with phenolphthalein (pronounced “fee-no-thay-leen”) which is
colorless in acidic solutions and pink in basic solutions.  Though litmus is usually the indicator that
kids are given to play with in elementary school (it’s nontoxic, after all), phenolphthalein is more often
used by actual science types.  The reason we don’t give it to kids should be clear after reading the
following…

Why we don't give phenolphthalein to kids

Phenolphthalein is a great indicator of whether something is an

acid or a base.  Unfortunately, it’s also a great laxative, which
means that if you ingest any of it, you’ll start pooping like crazy.
Because small children think poop is funny, we generally don’t
give it to students until they’re older.
It's nice to be able to recycle images
from time-to-time.

How to calculate pH

The pH of a solution is found by finding the negative logarithm of the hydronium ion (H+)
concentration of a solution.  If, like most people, you love chemical equations, you probably want to
see this in the cool equation form:

4 Your house may vary.

 pH = -log[H+]

Where [H+] is the molarity of H+ in the solution.

Strong acids are acids that give off all of their H+ ions when you put them in water.  As a result, if you
have a 0.10 M solution of a strong acid, the H+ concentration will also be 0.10 M.  Examples of strong
acids include hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.  There are also weak acids, but we’ll talk about that in a
little bit.

To find the pH of a strongly acidic solution, just use the equation for pH using the concentration of the
acid.  For example, if you have a 0.035 M solution of hydrochloric acid, the pH will be:

pH = -log(0.035 M) = 1.5

pH values don't have any units associated with them, so you don't have to say that “the pH of a solution
is 1.5 pH” or anything like that. Just say it's 1.5 and you'll be in good shape.

A common misconception about the pH scale

When people describe the pH scale, they usually say the acids have a pH between 0-7, bases have a pH
between 7-14, and that neutral compounds have a pH of exactly 7.  While close, this assumes that the
highest concentration of acid or base you can have is 1 M.  However, if we do a calculation for what would
happen with a 2.0 M HCl solution, we’d find that the pH is -log[2.0] = -0.30.5

The calculation for pH that we saw above is pretty handy, but it unfortunately doesn’t take into account
what happens if we have a basic solution.  What, for example, would we say that the concentration of a
0.10 M NaOH solution is?

We can’t just ask what -log(0.10) is, because NaOH isn’t an acid.  However, water exists in an
equilibrium called autoionization, in which it breaks apart in an equilibrium process to form
hydronium and hydroxide ions:

H2O ⇌ H+ + OH- Kw=1.0 x 10-14

If you don’t like solving problems like this but want an easier way to figure out what’s going on, you
can use this equation:

pH + pOH = 14

As a result, if we know either pH or pOH, we can figure out the other.  Going back to our example,
NaOH is a base, so we can calculate that the pOH = -log(0.10) = 1.  Since pH + pOH = 14, this means
that the pH of this solution must be 14 - 13 = 1.  And this is a good thing to know if you want to know
whether the thing you’re drinking will melt your stomach.

5 There is, however, an absolute minimum pH that you can reach in an aqueous solution. This can be reached in a case
where all of the water in the container has been converted to H3O+., corresponding to about -1.7.
 Getting complicated with polyprotic acids

Polyprotic acids are acids that can give off more than one H+ ion when placed in water.  One such example
is sulfuric acid, which can give off two H+ ions:
H2SO4 → H+ + HSO4-
HSO4- → H+ + SO4-2
When finding the pH of a polyprotic acid, you need to take into account the fact that more than one H + can
be given off by the acid.  Making this harder is the fact that in many polyprotic acids, the first H+ ion is given
off completely (i.e. it's a strong acid), while subsequent ones only partially dissociate (i.e. it's a weak acid.
For this reason, I’m not going to go into more detail than I already have.  If you’ve still got questions, ask
another grownup for help.

Strong and Weak Acids

Though I mentioned strong acids a little while back, it’s time to go into a little more detail to describe
exactly what that has to do with pH.

Strong acids are acids that break apart completely when you put them into water.  In a general sense,
putting the generic acid HA into water results in the following equation:

HA → H+ + A-

Because the HA completely breaks up, a 1 M solution of HA will result in the formation of a 1 M
solution of H+.  That’s why, when we figure out the pH of a strong acid solution, we can just use the
concentration of the acid to find pH.6

Weak acids are acids that don’t completely break up in water.  Rather than being a straightforward
reaction from reagents → products, we end up with an equilibrium process in which:

HA ⇌ H+ + A-

Where Ka is the equilibrium constant that describes this equilibrium (called, in this case, the acid
dissociation constant).

6 I want to mention that the definition of a strong acid as completely dissociating is, technically, not exactly right. All
chemical reactions are equilibria, and no matter how favored a chemical reaction is, there's always some degree of back
reaction to regenerate products. In strong acids, however, this back reaction is so insignificant that we, quite rightly,
ignore it for most purposes. Or, in other words, you can ignore this whole footnote if you want.
As with all equilbria, we can write an expression that relates the equilibrium constant to the
concentrations of the reagents and products.  This expression takes the same form as all equilibria
expressions do, looking like:
+ −
[ H ][ A ]
K a=
[ HA]

Where the brackets denote the concentration of each reagent/product in M.

The problem with weak acids is that the concentration of the acid that we start with isn’t the same as
the concentration of the acid that we ended up with.  For example, let’s say that we have a 1.0 M
solution of hydrofluoric acid (HF).  

When HF is placed in water, it breaks apart to form hydronium and fluoride ions:

HF ⇌ H+ + F-

Because not all of the HF will break apart in water, the concentration of H+ present will be something
less than the initial HF concentration of 1.0 M.  Fortunately for us, the equation above can help us
figure out what it is.

We can figure out the concentration of H+ by considering what happens when we put HF in water. Let’s
imagine that at the very instant when the HF hits the water, not enough time has elapsed for any of it to
break apart.  At time = 0, the concentrations of everything in this completely non-equilibrium mixture
are:

[HF] [H+] [F-]

1.0 M 0M 0M

As time passes, equilibrium will eventually be reached.  When this occurs, we don’t know what the
concentrations of any of these things will be.  However, we do know that the concentration of HF will
be something less than 1.0 M.  How much less?  Let’s call the amount it decreased to be x.  This allows
us to figure out how much H+ and A- will be formed.  Namely, x.  As a result, we can say definitively
that the concentrations of everything will be:

[HF] [H+] [F-]

(1.0 – x) M xM xM

Now, this doesn’t really look all that handy, given that we have no idea what x is.  However, if we put
this into the equilibrium equation above, we find that we end up with a handy expression we can use to
figure out what’s going on:

−4 (x M )( x M )
6.3 x 10 =
(1.0−x) M

If we solve for x, we’ll figure out the concentration of H+, and if we have the concentration of H+ we
can find the pH of the solution.
 Where'd that 6.3 x 10-4 come from?

In the expression for our example, the 6.3 x 10-4 is the acid dissociation constant (Ka) for HF.  This isn’t
something that you need to memorize - it’ll always be given to you if you need it.  Generally speaking, the
larger the Ka value is for an acid, the stronger the acid will be.

Solving the equation above for [H+] through the use of the quadratic formula, we find that [H+] = 0.025
M. From here, we stick that into the equation for pH, pH = -log[H+] and find that the pH of this
solution is:

pH = -log(0.025M) = 3.7

Now, I realize that some of you don’t enjoy solving the quadratic equation.  Frankly, I don’t like
solving the quadratic equation, and only figured out what the answer to the problem above by putting it
into an online calculator that solved it for me. What can I say?  I like technology.

Quadratic formula? What are you talking about?

Let's say that you're doing a weak acid calculation and want to solve the resulting quadratic equation of the
general variety:

To do this, you'd use the quadratic formula, which states that:

Or you'd do what I did and solve it using an online calculator. Fortunately, you won't have to actually use
the quadratic formula because we have a much simpler way of dealing with this sort of problem.

Fortunately, we can make an assumption that makes our life easier.  Let’s go back to the final
concentrations of each of the compounds in this equation:

[HF] [H+] [F-]

(1.0 – x) M xM xM

HF is a weak acid, which means that it doesn't break apart into the hydronium and fluoride ions very
well when you stick in into water. Because of this, x is a really small value when compared to the
initial HF concentration of 1.0 M.7

7 We demonstrated this when we did the quadratic equation and found that the exact concentration of HF would be
decreased only by 0.025 M, for a final concentration of 0.975 M.
As a result, we’re going to say that, for weak acids, the final concentration of HX will be pretty much
the same concentration as it was before it started breaking apart into ions.  We know that’s not exactly
the case (obviously, some of it has to form H+ and A-), but x is so small that we’ll consider it negligibly
small compared to the initial concentration of HX.  In our case, this allows us to say that the
equilibrium concentrations of every chemical species are:

[HF] [H+] [F-]

1.0 M xM xM

And when we solve for x in the equation:

−4 (x M )( x M )
6.3 x 10 =
1.0 M

We find that the concentration of H+ is 0.025 M and the pH is still 3.7.  In this case, our little shortcut
turned out to work pretty well!
 Is this really a good assumption?

It’s a pretty good assumption.  We used two significant figures

when doing our calculations and our answers were identical
when calculated to this level of precision.  If we needed high
precision calculations, we’d get a slightly different answer.
For almost every purpose you’ll ever care about, this level of
precision really isn’t important.  However, if, for some reason,
you do need to calculate pH to a high precision, it’ll be time to The quadratic formula was first devised by the
break out the old quadratic equation. Indian mathematician Brahmagupta in 628
AD. High school students have hated him
ever since.

Finding the pH of a weakly basic solution

I’ve got good news:  The way that we’d figure out the pH of a weakly basic solution is pretty much the
same way that we’d find the pH of a weakly acidic solution.  The only difference is that the equation
for breaking the weak base will look like this will:

BOH ⇌ B+ + OH-

Which gives us this equilibrium expression:

+ −
[ H ][ B ]
Kb=
[ HB]

Which is solved in exactly the same way as we did for H+ in a weak acid.  Once you’ve found [OH-],
you just find -log[OH-] to find the pOH of the solution, and subtract it from 14 to find the pH.

Kb, by the way, is the base dissociation constant, which describes how well something dissolves in
water. Solubility product constants exist for any compound that dissolves in water, and we use it to
figure out how much OH- is formed when a base breaks up.  As an example, AgOH has a Kb of 1.5 x
10-8.  Note:  Kb and Ksp are the same for ionic compounds, so if you can’t find one, you can use the
other.
Titrations

Let’s say that we’ve got a big beaker of a basic solution.  And, for whatever reason, let’s say that we
have no idea what its concentration is.  How can we figure this out?

The answer:  titration.  A titration is when you neutralize an acid with a base (or vice-versa) to figure
out the concentration of the unknown.  In case I didn’t mention it before, a neutralization reaction has
the general form:

HA + BOH ⇌ BA + H2O

Where the acid and base are converted to neutral water during the process.

The thinking behind titrations is that if you don’t know much much of a base you have, you just add
acid to it until the base is gone and the solution is neutral.  Once it’s neutral, the amount of acid that
you added to the solution (and were hopefully keeping track of) will be equal to the amount of base that
was originally present. The point at which the amount of acid and base are identical is referred to as
the equivalence point because the pH is exactly equal to 7.

Put another way, imagine that you want to know how many ducks are swimming in a pond.  If you just
look at the pond, the ducks keep swimming around and you can’t count them.  However, if you catch
each duck and put a little hat on it, you don’t need to count them.  All you need to do is count the
number of little hats you needed to dress up all of your little feathered friends.  It’s an indirect method
of counting them, but it does just a good job.

Like this, but with hats.

Getting back to chemistry, let’s say that we’ve got a bottle that holds a basic solution.  How can we use
a titration to figure out the concentration of the solution?

1. Put a known quantity of the basic solution into a beaker.  It doesn’t really matter how much
you use, just as long as you know how much you put in there.  In our case, let’s say that I put
50.0 mL of the unknown base into my beaker.
2. Make an acid with a well-known concentration. Again, it doesn't really matter what
concentration you choose, as long as you know what it is. For the sake of this argument, let's
say that I make a great big bottle of 0.0250 M HCl for this titration.
3. Add an indicator. During this process we're going to convert a basic solution into an acidic
one. Without an indicator, we have no way of knowing when this is done.
4. Very slowly add your acid to the unknown base solution until you see a color change –
keep track of how much you've added, or you'll have to start over. For the purpose of this
example, let's pretend that the color changed after 83.9 mL of acid was added
5. When the color changes, stop the titration! Clean everything up and then you can do the
math we'll talk about in a second.

To figure out the concentration of your base, you use the following equation:

M1V1 = M2V2

Where:
• M1 is the concentration of the acid in the titration.
• V1 is the quantity of acid used in the titration.
• M2 is the concentration of the base in the titration.
• V2 is the quantity of base used in the titration.

In our example:
• M1 is equal to 0.0250 M because I just felt like using a 0.0250 M solution to do my titration.
• V1 is equal to 83.9 mL, because that's how much acid it took to neutralize the base
• M2 is the concentration of the base, which we're trying to solve. Let's just call it X for now.
• V2 is equal to 50.0 mL, because we started the titration with 50.0 mL of the base.

Doing the math, we find that:

(0.0250 M)(83.9 mL) = (x M)(50.0 mL)

x = 0.0420 M
 Doing actual titrations

In the section above I talked about the way that titrations are supposed to work. Very simple, very neat.
Unfortunately, in the real world there are a few things to keep in mind before actually setting out on a
titration:
• Equivalence point vs. endpoint: As it turns out, indicators aren't perfect and the endpoint of a
titration (when the indicator changes color) isn't exactly the same as the equivalence point (when
the amount of acid and base are identical). This is usually not a huge deal, but it is something to
keep in mind.
• Fiddling with concentrations: Though it's technically possible to do a titration using any
concentration of acid and base, you run into problems if their concentrations are too far off from one
another. In cases like this, the titration can involve truly vast quantities of titrant to find the answer.
Before doing a titration, use some pH indicator paper to get a rough idea of what the concentration
of your unknown is to keep you from sitting in the lab until the end of time.
• Endpoint problems: When you reach the endpoint of a titration, you may find that the color
changes and then, a moment later, changes back the way it was. This occurs because the
neutralization hasn't quite been reached. When you see a color change, stir things for a minute or
so to make sure this isn't the case.

Though this gives a general idea of how a burette

and Erlenmeyer flask can be used to perform a
titration, true titrations rarely involve bright green
solutions, bright yellow solutions, or hideously
malformed chemists.

Buffers

Buffers are solutions that resist changes in pH when either an acid or base is added to it. Buffers are
formed by the mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base.

You and I both know that the definition above doesn't actually make it clear what a buffer is, so let's
make that great big mess of words a little easier to understand.
Let's say I've got a big bucket of water. If I were to throw a little HCl in there, it would break apart to
form H+ and Cl-, and the pH of the solution would be equal to the negative logarithm of the HCl
concentration.

Now, let's say I've got a big bucket containing a buffer. Instead of just having H2O in there, I've also
got some weak acid (we'll assume it's acetic acid, CH3COOH) and its conjugate base (we'll use
NaCH3COO). If we add HCl to this solution, we're not going to just get a bunch of H+ forming.
Instead, the HCl will react with the base in the buffer solution in the following way:

HCl + NaCH3COO ⇌ CH3COOH + NaCl

When the sodium acetate is present, the hydrochloric acid prefers to react with it than the water,
resulting in the formation of acetic acid. Overall, the pH of the solution will still change because acetic
acid is acidic, but since it's a lot less acidic than hydrochloric acid, the pH changes much less.

Likewise, if we were to add a strong base like NaOH to this buffer, we'd find that it would react with
the acetic acid in the following way:

NaOH + CH3COOH ⇌ NaCH3COO + H2O

Though the reaction does get more basic by the addition of NaOH, the pH actually changes very little
because the sodium acetate formed when sodium hydroxide reacts with water is much less basic than
the sodium hydroxide itself. As a result, there won't be a very drastic change in pH when base is added,
either.

So what?

Buffered solutions come in handy whenever you'd like

something refreshing to drink like the Fanta products shown to
the right. Though Fanta products are delicious enough to put a
smile on your face, they also have a pH of about 3.5. Since
humans die if our blood goes below a pH of about 7.0, you'd
think that quenching your thirst with this fruity drink would
cause your pH to dip into the fatal range. Fortunately, our
blood is a buffered solution, so you don't have to worry about
this happening.
Wanta Fanta?TM Damn right!
Chapter summary:

• Acids and bases are described using three different definitions, the Arrhenius definition (acids
give off H+ and bases give off OH-), the Brønsted-Lowry definition (acids give off H+ and bases
accept H+), and the Lewis definition (acids accept electrons, bases donate electrons). The
definition you use largely depends on the type of chemistry you're doing.
• pH is a measure of how acidic a solution is and depends on the concentration of hydronium ion
in the solution. A related concept, pOH, describes a solutions basicity.
• Strong acids and bases dissociate completely in water, while weak ones dissociate only
partially.
• Titrations allow us to figure out the concentrations of acids and bases through neutralization
reactions.
• Buffers are solutions consisting of weak acids and their conjugate bases that resist changes in
pH when either acids or bases are added to them.

Image credits:
Cat: Image courtesy of graur razvan ionut at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Judge Harry Friendly: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_Henry_Friendly_(cropped).jpg
( ).
Poop emoji: Phantom Open Emoji maintainers and contributors [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Ducklings: By flickr user Peggy2012CREATIVELENZ [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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