Acids and Bases

General properties
ACIDS BASES
• Taste sour • Taste bitter
• Turn litmus • Turn litmus
• React with active • Feel soapy or
metals – Fe, Zn slippery (react with
fats to make soap)
• React with acids

• React with bases

blue to red red to blue

 Definitions
• Acids – produce H+
Arrehenius
only in water • Bases - produce OH-

• Acids – donate H+
Bronsted-Lowry
• Bases – accept H+
any solvent

• Acids – accept e- pair

Lewis
• Bases – donate e- pair
used in organic chemistry,
wider range of substances
 The hydrogen ion in aqueous solution
H+ + H2O  H3O+ (hydronium ion)

Examples
Arrhenius HCl NaOH

Bronsted-Lowry HCl HCN NH3

Lewis BF3 :NH3

The Bronsted-Lowry Concept
Conjugate pairs

HCl Cl- CH3COOH CH3COO-

NH4+ NH3 HNO3 NO3-

How does a conjugate pair differ?

H+ transfer
 Neutralization
In general: Acid + Base  Salt + Water

All neutralization reactions are double displacement reactions.

HCl + NaOH  NaCl + HOH

HCl + Mg(OH)2 

H2SO4 + NaHCO3 
Does pure water conduct electrical current?
Water is a very, very, very weak electrolyte.

H2O  H+ + OH-
How are (H+) and (OH-) related?
(H+)(OH-) = 10-14

For pure water: (H+) = (OH-) = 10-7M

This is neutrality and

at 25oC is a pH = 7.
water
 Let’s examine the behavior of
an acid, HA, in aqueous solution.

HA

What happens to the HA molecules in solution?

 100% dissociation of HA

HA

H+
Strong Acid
A-
Would the
solution be
conductive?
 Partial dissociation of HA

HA

H+
Weak Acid
A-
Would the
solution be
conductive?
 HA  H+ + A-

HA

H+
Weak Acid
A- At any one
time, only a
fraction of
the molecules
are
dissociated.
Strong and Weak Acids/Bases
Strong acids/bases – 100% dissociation into ions

HCl NaOH
HNO3 KOH
H2SO4
Weak acids/bases – partial dissociation,
both ions and molecules

CH3COOH NH3
acid rain (NOx, SOx)
pH of 4.2 - 4.4 in
Washington DC area pH
0-14 scale for the chemists

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

acidic neutral @ 25oC basic or alkaline

(H+) > (OH-) (H+) = (OH-) (H+) < (OH-)
distilled water

normal rain (CO2) fish populations natural

pH = 5.3 – 5.7 drop off pH < 6 waters pH =
and to zero pH < 5 6.5 - 8.5
 pH of Rainwater
across United States in 2001

You
are
here!

Why is the eastern US more acidic?

http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/isopleths
 What is acid rain?
Dissolved carbon dioxide lowers the pH
CO2 (g) + H2O  H2CO3  H+ + HCO3-

Atmospheric pollutants from combustion

NO, NO2 + H2O …  HNO3 both

strong
SO2, SO3 + H2O …  H2SO4 acids
pH < 5.3
Behavior of oxides in water– Group A
1A basic amphoteric acidic 8A

2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A

Group B

105 107
Db Bh

basic: Na2O + H2O  2NaOH

(O-2 + H2O  2OH-)
acidic: CO2 + H2O  H2CO3
 When life goes either way
amphoteric (amphiprotic) substances

Acting like HCO3- Acting like

a base an acid
+ H+ - H+

H2CO3 CO3-2
accepts H+ donates H+
 pH
The biological view in the human body

acidic basic/alkaline
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Tortora & Grabowski, Prin. of Anatomy & Physiology, 10th ed., Wiley (2003)
 Does the pH influence the
activity of an enzyme?

Trypsin is a digestive enzyme. Where?

Intestinal pH range 7.0-8.5
 The amino acid glycine - amphoteric
It’s an acid and a base!

Gain of H+ Loss of H+

H3N+-CH2-COOH H2N-CH2-COO-
H2N-CH2-COOH
Chime structure
The amino acid glycine - Zwitterion formation

Transfer of H+ from carboxylic

acid group to amine group.

+ -

A dipolar
ion forms.
H2N-CH2-COOH
Chime structure
H3N+-CH2-COO-
intramolecular acid-base reaction
Show how water can be amphoteric.

H2O

+ H+ - H+
 Dilution
water (solvent) solute

moles of solute remain constant

Vfinal diluted, Mfinal

molesinitial = molesfinal

Vinitial
concentrated, Minitial

adding water lowers the solute concentration

Mfinal x Vfinal = Minitial x Vinitial
 Titration Calculation
indicator
HCl + NaOH  NaCl + HOH

A way to analyze solutions!

at equivalence point: moleHCl = moleNaOH

moles = M x VL

Macid x Vinitial acid = Mbase x Vburet