Acid – Base Titration

Acids

• The term acid was first used in the seventeenth century;

• It comes from the Latin root ac-, meaning “sharp”, as in acetum, vinegar.
• Acids have long been recognized as a distinctive class of compounds
whose aqueous solutions exhibit the following properties:
• A characteristic sour taste;
• ability to change the color of litmus from blue to red;
• react with certain metals to produce gaseous H2;
• react with bases to form a salt and water.

Bases

• The name base has long been associated with a class of compounds
whose aqueous solutions are characterized by:

• a bitter taste;

• a “soapy” feeling when applied to the skin;

• ability to restore the original blue color of litmus that has been turned red
by acids;

• ability to react with acids to form salts. The word “alkali” is synonymous
with base.

• It is of Arabic origin, but the root word comes from the same Latin kalium
(potash) that is the origin of the symbol for potassium; wood ashes have
been the traditional source of the strong base KOH since ancient times.

Arrhenius Acid-Base Theory

The Arrhenius acid-base concept classifies a substance as an acid if it
produces hydrogen ions (H+) or hydronium ions in water.
A substance is classified as a base if it produces hydroxide ions (OH-) in
water.
Acids are defined as a compound or element that releases hydrogen (H+)
ions into the solution.

In this reaction nitric acid (HNO3) disassociates into hydrogen (H+) and
nitrate (NO3-) ions when dissolved in water.
Bases are defined as a compound or element that releases hydroxide (OH-)
ions into the solution.

In this reaction lithium hydroxide (LiOH) dissociates into lithium (Li+) and
hydroxide (OH-) ions when dissolved in water

BRONSTED - LOWRY THEORY

Neutralization

Acids and bases react with one another to yield two products: water, and an
ionic compound known as a salt. This kind of reaction is called a
neutralization reaction.

These reactions are both exothermic; although they involve different acids
and bases, it has been determined experimentally that they all liberate the
same amount of heat (57.7 kJ) per mole of H+ neutralized. This implies that
all neutralization reactions are really the one net reaction

The “salt” that is produced in a neutralization reaction consists simply of the

anion and cation that were already present. The salt can be recovered as a
solid by evaporating the water.

Dissociation of water

• The ability of acids to react with bases depends on the tendency of

hydrogen ions to combine with hydroxide ions to form water.

• No reaction, however, is really 100 percent complete; at equilibrium

there will be at least a minute concentration of the reactants in the
solution. Another way of expressing this is to say that any reaction is at
least slightly reversible.

• This means that in pure water, the reaction H2O −→ H+ (aq) + OH −(aq)

will proceed to a very slight extent.

Dissociation of water

• Experimental evidence confirms this: the most highly purified water

that chemists have been able to prepare will still conduct electricity
very slightly.
 • From this electrical conductivity it can be calculated that the
equilibrium concentration of both the H+ ion and OH− ions is almost
exactly 1.00×10-7 at 25◦C.

• This amounts to one H2O molecule in about 50 million being

dissociated. The degree of dissociation of water is very small

• It is important as the concentrations for H+ and OH+ in pure water are

used to define the equilibrium constant

[H+][OH−] = 10−7×10−7 = Kw = 10−14

• The product of the hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion concentrations in

any aqueous solution will always be 1.00×10-14 at 25◦C.

Dissociation of water

In other words, [H+][OH−]=1 .00×10−14

This expression is known as the ion product of water, and it applies to all
aqueous solutions, not just to pure water.
The consequences of this are far-reaching, because it implies that if the
concentration of H+ is large, that of OH− will be small, and vice versa.
This means that H+ ions are present in all aqueous solutions, not just acidic
ones.
acidic solution: [H+] > [OH−]
alkaline solution: [H+] < [OH−]
neutral solution: [H+] = [OH−] (= 1.00×10−7 M at 25◦C)

Acid and Base Strength

• Acid dissociation constant, Ka
• Base dissociation constant, Kb
• For conjugate pairs, (Ka)(Kb) = Kw
• Spontaneous acid-base reactions proceed from stronger to
weaker.
What is a strong Acid?

An Acid that is 100% ionized in water.

Strong Acids:

100% ionized (completely dissociated) in water.

HCl + H2O  H3O+ + Cl-

often written as: HCl  H+ + Cl-

Strong Acids:

100% ionized (completely dissociated) in water.

HCl + H2O  H3O+ + Cl-

Strong Acids:

Perchloric HClO4

Chloric, HClO3

Hydrobromic, HBr
Hydrochloric, HCl

Hydroiodic, HI

Nitric, HNO3

Sulfuric, H2SO4