PROPERTIES OF ACIDS AND BASES

BRAINSTORM

In partners answer the following questions:

What are some common acids and bases that can be found in your home?

What are some properties of acids and bases that you know?

ACIDS AND BASES

Acids and bases have an important role in people’s everyday lives.

Today, acids are used in the manufacturing of fertilizers, explosives, medicines, plastics, motor vehicles and computer circuit boards.

One of Canada’s most important industries, the pulp and paper industry, uses huge quantities of a base called sodium hydroxide.

Sodium hydroxide is also used to make soap, detergents, drain cleaner, dyes, medicines and many other products.

COMMON ACIDS IN THE HOME

Product Acid(s) contained in the product

Citrus fruit Citric acid and ascorbic acid

Diary products Lactic acid

Vinegar Acetic acid

Pop Carbonic acid

Underarm odour 3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid

COMMON BASES IN THE HOME

Product Base contained in the product

Oven cleaner Sodium hydroxide

Baking soda Sodium hydrogen carbonate

Washing soda Sodium carbonate

Glass cleaner Ammonia

PROPERTIES OF ACIDS

Acids: Taste sour Are corrosive Turn blue litmus paper red Are molecular in structure Conduct electricity in aqueous solution React with bases to form salts and water React with certain metals (Zn, Fe, etc.) to

produce hydrogen gas pH > 7

PROPERTIES OF BASES

Bases: Taste bitter Feel slippery (Strong bases convert oils in your

fingers to soap, hence they feel slippery) React with oils and grease Conduct electricity in aqueous solution Turn red litmus paper blue React with acids to forms salts and water pH < 7

ACIDS AND BASES

Aqueous solutions of acids and bases conduct electricity.

This is evidence that ions are present in acidic and basic solutions.

DEFINITIONS OF ACIDS AND BASES

THE ARRHENIUS THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

When hydrogen chloride dissolves in water it dissociates into hydrogen ions and chloride ions.

HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

When sodium hydroxide dissolves in water, it dissociates to form sodium ions and hydroxide ions.

NaOH(aq) Na+(aq) + OH-

(aq)

THE ARRHENIUS THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

The dissociation of other acids and bases in water reveal a pattern. This pattern was first noticed in the late nineteenth century by a Swedish chemist named Svanté Arrhenius.

HBr(aq) H+(aq) + Br-

(aq)

H2SO4(aq) H+(aq) + HSO4

-(aq)

HClO4(aq) H+(aq) + ClO4

-(aq)

LiOH(aq) Li+(aq) + OH-(aq)

KOH(aq) K+(aq) + OH-

(aq)

Ba(OH)2(aq) Ba2+(aq) + 2OH-

(aq)

THE ARRHENIUS THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

An acid is a substance that dissociates in water to produce one or more hydrogen ions, H+

A base is a substance that dissociates in water to form one or more hydroxide ions, OH-

LIMITATIONS OF THE ARRHENIUS THEORY

The Arrhenius Theory is useful if you are interested in the ions that result when an acid or a base dissociates in water.

It also helps explain what happens when an acid and a base undergo a neutralization reaction. In such a reaction, an acid combines with a base to form an ionic compound and water.

HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

Net ionic equationH+

(aq) + OH-(aq) H2O(l)

LIMITATIONS OF THE ARRHENIUS THEORY

One problem that arises with this theory involves the H+ ion.

HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

This dissociation occurs in aqueous solution, but H2O is often left out of the equation.

HCl(aq) + H2O(l) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) +

H2O(l)

Notice that the water is unchanged when the reaction is represented this way.

However, water is a polar molecule. The O atom has a partial negative charge and the H atoms have partial positive charges.

LIMITATIONS OF THE ARRHENIUS THEORY

Thus, H2O must interact in some way with the ions H+ and Cl-.

Chemists realized that protons (the hydrogen ion is simply a proton), do not exist in isolation in aqueous solutions.

Protons are always hydrated; they are always attached to water molecules.

A hydrated proton is called a hydronium ion, H3O+.

LIMITATIONS OF THE ARRHENIUS THEORY

There is another problem with the Arrhenius theory.

NH3(g) + H2O(l) NH4+

(aq) + OH-(aq)

Ammonia is one of several substances that produce basic solutions in water.

The Arrhenius theory cannot explain the basic properties of ammonia.

THE BRØNSTED-LOWRY THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

In 1923, two chemists working independently of each other proposed a new theory of acids and bases.

This theory overcame the limitations of the Arrhenius theory.

THE BRØNSTED-LOWRY THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

An acid is a substance from which a proton (H+ ion) can be removed.

A base is a substance that can remove a proton (H+ ion) from an acid.

THE BRØNSTED-LOWRY THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

Like an Arrhenius acid, a Brønsted-Lowry acid must contain a H in its formula. This means that all Arrhenius acids are also Brønsted-Lowry acids.

However, any negative ion (not just OH-) can be a Brønsted-Lowry base.

According to the Brønsted-Lowry theory, an acid-base reaction involves the transfer of a proton.(Note that the word proton refers to the nucleus of a hydrogen atom—an H+ ion that has been removed from the acid molecule)

THE BRØNSTED-LOWRY THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

The idea of proton transfer has major implications for understanding the nature of acids and bases.

According to the Brønsted-Lowry theory, any substance can behave as an acid, but only if another substance behaves as a base at the same time.

Similarly, any substance can behave as a base, but only if another substance behaves as an acid at the same time.

CONJUGATE ACID-BASE PAIRS

Two molecules or ions that are related by the transfer of a proton are called a conjugate acid-base pair.

(Conjugate means “linked together”) The conjugate base of an acid is the

particle that remains when a proton is removed from the acid.

The conjugate acid of a base is the particle that results when the base receives the proton from the acid.

AMPHOTERIC SUBSTANCES

Substances that can act as an acid in one reaction and as a base in a different reaction are said to be amphoteric.

For example, the hydrogen carbonate ion is amphoteric.

HCO3-(aq) + OH-

(aq) CO32-

(aq) + H2O(l)

HCO3-(aq) + H3O+

(aq) H2CO3(aq) + H2O(l)

COMPARING THE ARRHENIUS THEORY AND THE BRØNSTED-LOWRY THEORY OF ACIDS AND BASES

Theory Arrhenius Brønsted-Lowry

Acid

Base

Example