Properties of Water, Acid & Base

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students should be able to :

 Understand water and polarity
 Define hydrogen bond
 Compare acid and base
 Understand Henderson-Hesselbach equation
Properties of water
 Water is essential to living organism

 No water = no life on earth

 Why is water important?
 Most biochemical processess essential for living
organism takes place in presence of water
 Water is the best solvent known – universal solvent
 Why is water the best solvent?

 It is due to the POLARITY of water molecule.

 So, the question is: what is polarity?
 STRUCTURE OF WATER

H H

1 molecule of water is
made up of 2 hydrogen atoms
bonded with 1 oxygen atom
 H

H
H
H
H O
O
H

O
H
H O H O
H
H

O
H

H
O
O
A LOT OF MOLECULES
H O

O
H
H

H
H H
OOF WATER H O

H
H O H

O
H H H
H
O

O H

H
H H
O H O
H

H
H H
Millions of molecules of water
make up 1 raindrop
 STRUCTURE OF WATER

H H

The bond that forms water

is a covalent bond
Covalent Bonds

 A covalent bond is the sharing of a pair of valence

electrons by two atoms
 If electrons in a covalent bond are shared equally,
then this is a non-polar covalent bond
 If the electrons in a covalent bond are not equally
shared by the two atoms, then this is a polar
covalent bond
 Why is water called a polar compound?

 Water is polar because of the difference in

electronegativity between hydrogen and oxygen
 Electronegativity  tendency of an atom to attract electrons
to itself in a chemical bond.
 The highly electronegative oxygen atom attracts electrons or
negative charge to it, making the region around the oxygen
more negative than the areas around the two hydrogen
(uneven distribution of charge)  dipole
 Bent structure and uneven distribution of charge make it
polar
Hydrogen Bond
 Hydrogen bonds form when a hydrogen atom that is
already covalently bonded to a strongly electronegative
atom is attracted to another strongly electronegative
atom

 These strongly electronegative atoms are typically

nitrogen or oxygen
In the water molecule, the hydrogen atoms have partial positive
charges and oxygen atom partial negative charges

Areas with opposite charges are attracted

Hydrogen bonds have a significant effect on the physical
properties of hydrogen-bonded compounds
Water molecules have a strong tendency to stick
to one another, a property known as cohesion.
This is due to the hydrogen bonds among the
molecules, which gives water a high surface
tension. The molecules at the surface of the water
"stick together" to form a type of "skin" on the
water, strong enough to support very light objects.
 SOLVENT PROPERTIES OF H20
 Three types of molecules characteristics when mixed
with water
 Hydrophilic : water-loving (tend to dissolve in water)
 Hydrophobic : water-fearing (tend not to dissolve in
water)
 Amphipathic : contain both polar (hydrophilic) and
nonpolar (hydrophobic) portion
 SOLVENT PROPERTIES OF H20
 Ionic compound and polar compound tend to dissolve in water
 H20 can interact with and dissolve other polar compounds and
compounds that ionize
 Eg: NaCl dissolve in H20
Each dissolved Na+ attracts the –ve ends of H20 molecule, wherease Cl-
attracts the +ve ends
 SOLVENT PROPERTIES OF H20
• Micelle: a spherical arrangement of organic molecules in water
solution clustered so that:
– Their hydrophobic parts are buried inside the sphere

– Their hydrophilic parts are on surface of sphere and in contact

with the water environment

Why do oil and water mixed together
separate into layers?
Why do oil and water mixed together
separate into layers?
 Oil and water don't mix because oil is made up of
non-polar molecules while water molecules are
polar in nature.
 Because water molecules are electrically charged,
they get attracted to other water molecules and
exclude the oil molecules.
 This eventually causes the oil molecules, or lipids, to
clump together.
Acid & Base
 ACIDS AND BASES
 An acids is a molecule that acts as a proton donor
(hydrogen ion)
 Strong acid: an acid that is completely ionized in aqueous
solution
(E.g: HCl, HBr, HI, HNO3, HCLO4, H2SO4 )

 A base is a molecule that acts as proton acceptor

 Strong base: a base that is completely ionized in aqueous
solution
(E.g: LiOH, NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH)2)
 WEAK ACIDS AND BASES

 An acid or base that

is incompletely
ionized in aqueous
solution
 E.g: acetic acid
 What is a pH?
 a measure of the hydrogen ion, or
proton [H+] concentration in a
solution
 pH is defined as negative logarithm
(to base 10) of the hydrogen ion
concentration in mol/L or M

pH = - log10 [H+]

 [H+] increase, the pH decrease

 [H+] decrease, the pH increase
Calculate acid

 Calculate pH of 1 x 10-3 M HCl

pH = - log [H+]
= - log (10-3)
=3
 ACIDS DISSOCIATION
 Acid – proton donor
 Base – proton acceptor
 Acid and base always come in pair – every proton donor
must have proton acceptor
 Both sides of dissociation reaction will contain acid and
base
conjugate acid-base pair
O O
+
CH3 COH + H2 O CH3 CO - + H3 O
Acid Base Conjugate base Conjugate acid
of acetic acid of water

conjugate acid-base pair

 ACIDS DISSOCIATION CONSTANT, Ka
 Ka, the acid dissociation constant is an equilibrium constant
that refers to the dissociation of an acid.
 The ionization of an acid in water is a reversible reaction.
 For the reaction in which the acid HA dissociates to form the ions
H+ and A-

Bracket refer to
molar concent. =
moles per liter
ACIDS DISSOCIATION CONSTANT, Ka

 Ka provides a measure of the equilibrium position

 if Ka is large, the products of the dissociation reaction
are favoured
 if Ka is small, undissociated acid is favoured

 Ka provides a measure of the strength of an acid

 if Ka is large  stronger acid
 if Ka is small  weak acid
The Ion Product Constant of Water

 The ionization of pure water produces equal concentration of

H+ and OH-
Calculate base

 Calculate pH of 1 x 10-4 M NaOH

In 1 x 10-4 M NaOH, [OH] = 10-4

Because Kw = [H][OH]= 10-14

[H]=(10-14)/(10-4)
=10-10
pH = -log[H] = 10
Henderson-Hasselbalch equation
 Ka value are numerically small and inconvenient in calculation, more easier in
logarithmic scale
 Thus, Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is derived:

Henderson-
Hasselbalch
equation
Henderson-Hasselbalch equation
 Handerson-Hasselbalch equation:

 From this equation, we see that

 When the concentration of weak acid and its conjugate base are
equal, the pH of solution equals the pKa of the weak acid
 When pH<pKa, the weak acid predominates
 When pH>pKa, the conjugate base predominates
 From this equation it can be seen that the smaller the pKa value,
the stronger is the acid
Calculate the pH of a buffer solution made from
0.20 M HC2H3O2 and 0.50 M C2H3O2 - that has an
acid dissociation constant for HC2H3O2 of 1.8 x 10 -
5
 . Solve this problem by plugging the values into
the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation for a weak
acid and its conjugate base.
 TITRATION CURVES
 Titration: an experiment which measured
amounts of acid (or base) are added to measured
amounts of base (or acids)
 TITRATION CURVES
 From titration curve, the most effective buffering, indicated by the
region of minimum slope on the curve.
 Equivalence point / mid point: the point in an acid-base titration at
which enough acid has been added to exactly neutralize the base
(or vice versa)

Equivalence point
Polyprotic acids
 Polyprotic acids  specific acids that are capable of losing more
than a single proton per molecule in acid-base reaction
 E.g: Diprotic  release two proton, 2 equivalence points
 Monoprotic?? Triprotic??
 BUFFERS
 Buffer: a solution whose pH resists change upon
addition of either more acid or more base
 Has the ability to maintain the pH
and bring it back to its optimal value
by addition or removal of
hydrogen ions.
 Components of a buffer

 The components of a buffer solution are acid-base

conjugate pairs
 Can be a weak acid and a salt of its conjugate base –
typically have equal concentrations of the weak acid
and its salt
 Can also be a weak base and a salt of its conjugate

acid
 Components of a buffer

 Example of acid-base buffers are solutions containing

 CH3COOH (acetic acid) and CH3COONa (sodium acetate)
 H2CO3 an (carbonic acid) and NaHCO3 (sodium carbonate)

 Human blood contains a buffer of carbonic acid (H 2CO 3)

and bicarbonate anion (HCO 3 -) in order to maintain
blood pH
 Why are buffers important?
 Body is very sensitive to its pH level
 Outside the acceptable range of pH, proteins are denatured
and digested, enzymes lose their ability to function, and death
may occur.
 Whenever arterial blood pH rises above 7.45 a person is said to
have alkalosis. A drop on arterial pH to below 7.35 results in
acidosis.
 Buffers are needed to stabilize pH changes in organism
 Bicarbonate, phosphate and plasma protein are principal buffer
in cells
 Bicarbonate buffering system

 Carbon dioxide (CO2) can be shifted through carbonic acid (H2CO3) to

hydrogen ions and bicarbonate (HCO3-) as shown below.

 When hydrogen ions increased or decreased from the reactions, the system
shifts to counteract the disturbance and to maintain a relatively constant
hydrogen ion concentration
Bicarbonate buffering system

 If the blood gained excess hydrogen ions  the blood pH drops too low
(acidosis), some of those hydrogen ions would shift to carbon dioxide
(drive the equation to the left), minimizing the increased acidity.

 The excess hydrogen ions combine with the HCO3–(bicarbonate ion) to

form H2CO3 (carbonic acid), the body will compensate by increasing
breathing, expelling CO2.
 Due to the shift, the concentration of hydrogen ions decreases which
therefore the pH will rise back to normal.
 Bicarbonate buffering system

 If the pH of the blood suddenly goes up, there are less H+ ions
present in the blood (alkalosis)  the equation will shift to
the right to produce more H+ to compensate for the
decrease in hydrogen ions

 More H+ are produced, decreasing the pH, which counteracts

the initial increase in pH. By doing so, the system is able to
regulate the pH of your blood
 Normal ventilation can
maintain blood pH  a
state of acid-base balance

 Hyperventilation can
result in increased blood
pH (more basic) 
alkalosis

 Hypoventilation can
result in decreased blood
pH (more acidic)
acidosis
END OF THIS CHAPTER