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Acid-Base Basics

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Some common solutions are acidic, while others are basic or neutral. In this investigation, you’ll experiment to determine the difference between strong and weak when it comes to acids and bases. Get started now with your investigation.

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Acid-Base Basics Brochure

What is an acid?

An acid is a substance that tastes sour, neutralizes bases, and has a pH value lower than 7.0.

What are some different definitions of acids?

  1. Arrhenius Definition – An acid is a substance that forms the hydronium ion when placed in water.

  2. Bronsted-Lowry Definition – An acid is a substance that donates a proton or H+ to another substance.

  3. Lewis Definition – An acid is a substance that can accept a pair of non-bonding electrons from another substance.

							
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What is a base?

A base is a substance that tastes bitter, neutralizes acids, and has a pH value higher than 7.0.

What is a strong acid?

A strong acid is an acid that completely dissociates in water, forming the conjugate acid and base.

What is a strong base?

A strong base is a base that completely dissociates in water, forming the conjugate acid and base.

What is a weak acid?

A weak acid is an acid that does not completely dissociate in water, forming little of the conjugate acid and base.

What is a weak base?

A weak base is a base that does not completely dissociate in water, forming little of the conjugate acid and base.

What is a neutral solution?

A neutral solution is neither an acid nor a base and has a pH of 7.0.

What is pH?

A measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution is called pH. The pH ranges between 0 – 14 with 0 – 6.999 being acidic and 7.0001 – 14 being basic. The equation for finding pH is the negative log of the hydronium concentration.

What is a hydronium ion?

The hydronium ion is formed when a water molecule gains a proton (positive charge) and forms a positive +1 ion with three hydrogen atoms surrounding one oxygen atom.

What is a hydroxide ion?

The hydroxide ion consists of one hydrogen atom bound to one oxygen atom. The ion has a net negative charge of -1.

What is neutralization?

Neutralization is a chemical reaction in which an acid reacts with a base. In a water system, at the neutralization point the hydronium and hydroxide ions concentrations will be equal.

What does it mean to dilute a solution?

Diluting means to reduce the concentration of the solute in a solvent by adding more solvent but not adding more solute.

What is the acid ionization constant?

The acid ionization constant (Ka) identifies the amount of an acid that has been ionized in a solution and indicates the relative strength of the acid. The larger the Ka value, the stronger the acid and the greater the ionization in the solution.

What is the base ionization constant?

The base ionization constant (Kb) identifies the amount of a base that has been ionized or dissociated in a solution and indicates the relative strength of the base. The larger the Kb value, the stronger the base and the greater the ionization or ion dissociation in the solution.

What is the water ionization constant?

The water ionization constant (Kw) identifies the amount of water that has been ionized in a solution into hydronium and hydroxide ions. The Kw for water is 1.0 × 10-14.
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