Cristina Carcedo

Acids and alkalis

When a substance dissolves in water it
makes a solution.

Solutions can be sorted according

to their nature: acid, alkali or
neutral.
 NON-
-METALS

When the oxide

of some non-metals
dissolve in water
they make an acid.

Acids have a sour taste.

They are corrosive.
 Testing your chemistry
background

• Who knows where this reaction occurs?

 Testing your chemistry
background

• Solution:

Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur

dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the
water molecules in the atmosphere to produce
acids.
 Acids

There are many acids

present in our
everyday lives.

o Lemon juice that contains citric acid

o Vinegar that contains acetic acid.

 Alkalis

METALS

When the oxides of some

metals dissolve in water they
make an alkaline solution.
Many everyday substances are alkalis.
They feel soapy.
They are corrosive.
 Testing your general science
knowledge

• Who can tell me an alkali cleaning product

that is normally used at home?
 Alkalis
Alkalis are present in many cleaning
substances in use in our homes.
Kitchen cleaners are alkaline because
they contain ammonia or sodium
hydroxide, which attack grease.
Alkalis react with
acids and
neutralise them.
 Neutralisation
• Acids and alkalis react with each other. The
alkali cancels out the acid in the reaction. This
is called neutralisation.

In this reaction a salt is made.

o The salt made depends on the acid and alkali used.
o The salt contains the metal atom from the alkali, and
part of the acid molecule
 Applications of Neutralisation
• Insect Stings
Bee stings are acidic and can be
neutralised with baking soda.
Wasp stings are alkaline and can be
neutralised with vinegar.

• Indigestion: Our stomach carries

around hydrochloric acid. Too much
of this leads to heart burn. To cure
this, you can neutralise the excess
acid with baking soda or specialised
indigestion tablets made of alkali
compounds.
Applications of Neutralisation
Soil Treatment: When Factory Waste: Liquid
soils are too acidic waste from factories
(often as a result of is often acidic. If it
acid rain) they can be reaches a river it will
treated with slaked destroy and kill sea
lime, chalk or life of many forms.
quicklime, all alkalis. Neutralising the waste
Plants and crops with slaked lime can
grow best in neutral prevent this.
soils.
 One more test!

• What do we use to measure how acidic or

alkali a solution is?
 Indicators
Indicators are chemicals used to
determine whether an aqueous
solution is acidid, neutral or alkaline.

The unit to measure this is the pH,

which goes from 1 (very acidic) to 14
(very alkaline), being 7 (neutral).

o Because acidity and alkalinity relate to pH, they may also be

known as pH indicators.

o Examples of acid-base indicators include litmus paper,

phenolphthalein, and red cabbage juice.
 Litmus
Test

• Litmus is an indicator. It changes colour in acid and

alkaline solutions.
• Litmus is red in an acid.
• Litmus is green in neutral solution
• Litmus is blue in an alkali.
Summary
 Summary
The pH scale: a ruler to measure how acidic or
alkali a solution is.