What Makes a Strong Acid or Strong Base? Strong electrolytes are completely dissociated into ions in water.

The acid or base molecule does not exist in aqueous solution, only ions. Weak electrolytes are incompletely dissociated. Strong Acids Strong acids completely dissociate in water, forming H+ and an anion. There are six strong acids. The others are considered to be weak acids. You should commit the strong acids to memory:

HCl - hydrochloric acid HNO3 - nitric acid H2SO4 - sulfuric acid HBr - hydrobromic acid HI - hydroiodic acid HClO4 - perchloric acid

100% dissociation isn't true as solutions become more concentrated. If the acid is 100% dissociated in solutions of 1.0 M or less, it is called strong. Sulfuric acid is considered strong only in its first dissociation step. H2SO4 -> H+ + HSO4Weak Acids A weak acid only partially dissociates in water to give H+ and the anion. Examples of weak acids include hydrofluoric acid, HF, and acetic acid, CH3COOH. Weak acids include:

Molecules that contain an ionizable proton. A molecule wih a formula starting with H usually is an acid. Organic acids containing one or more carboxyl group, -COOH. The H is ionizable. Anions with an ionizable proton. (e.g., HSO4- --> H+ + SO42-) Cations o transition metal cations o heavy metal cations with high charge o NH4+ dissociates into NH3 + H+

Strong Bases Strong bases dissociate 100% into the cation and OH- (hydroxide ion). The hydroxides of the Group I and Group II metals usually are considered to be strong bases.

LiOH - lithium hydroxide NaOH - sodium hydroxide KOH - potassium hydroxide RbOH - rubidium hydroxide CsOH - cesium hydroxide *Ca(OH)2 - calcium hydroxide *Sr(OH)2 - strontium hydroxide *Ba(OH)2 - barium hydroxide

* These bases completely dissociate in solutions of 0.01 M or less. The other bases make solutions of 1.0 M and are 100% dissociated at that concentration. There are other strong bases than those listed, but they are not often encountered. Weak Bases Examples of weak bases include ammonia, NH3, and diethylamine, (CH3CH2)2NH.

Most weak bases are anions of weak acids. Weak bases do not furnish OH- ions by dissociation. Instead, they react with water to generate OH- ions.

Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of at least one carboxyl group.[1] The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R-COOH, where R is some monovalent functional group. A carboxyl group (or carboxy) is a functional group consisting of a carbonyl (RR'C=O) and a hydroxyl (R-O-H), which has the formula -C(=O)OH, usually written as -COOH or -CO2H. Carboxylic acids are typically weak acids, meaning that they only partially dissociate into H+ cations and RCOO anions in neutral aqueous solution. For example, at room temperature, only 0.4% of all acetic acid molecules are dissociated. Electronegative substituents give stronger acids. Carboxylic Acids Formic acid (HCO2H) Acetic acid (CH3COOH) Chloroacetic acid (CH2ClCO2H) Dichloroacetic acid (CHCl2CO2H) Trichloroacetic acid (CCl3CO2H) Trifluoroacetic acid (CF3CO2H) Oxalic acid (HO2CCO2H) Benzoic acid (C6H5CO2H) pKa 3.77 4.76 2.86 1.29 0.65 0.5 1.27 4.2

Deprotonation of a carboxylic acid gives a carboxylate anion, which is resonance stabilized because the negative charge is shared (delocalized) between the two oxygen atoms increasing its stability. Each of the carbon-oxygen bonds in a carboxylate anion has partial double-bond character.

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Current density /mA cm

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Voltage / V