Acids and bases and Salts IGCSE Chemistry

Acids and Bases

Acid is a substance which gives out hydrogen ions (H+) mixed in water. Base is a substance which gives out
hydroxide ions (OH-) when mixed in water.
Reactions of acids
Acids react with metals to form salt and hydrogen gas
Magnesium + Hydrochloric acid Magnesium chloride + Hydrogen
Mg + 2HCl MgCl
2
+ H
2

Name of the salt depends on the acid
Hydrochloric acid chloride
Sulphuric acid sulphate
Nitric acid nitrate
Acids react with bases to form salt and water. This reaction is called Neutralisation. Metal oxides and
Metal hydroxides are bases. Ammonia solution (NH
4
OH, Ammonium hydroxide) is also a base.
Sodium hydroxide + hydrochloric acid sodium chloride + water
NaOH + HCl NaCl + H
2
O
Calcium oxide + nitric acid Calcium nitrate + water
CaO + 2HNO
3
Ca(NO
3
)
2
+ H
2
O
Acids react with carbonates to form salt, carbon dioxide and water.
Sulphuric acid + Zinc carbonate Zinc sulphate + Carbon dioxide + water
H
2
SO
4
+ ZnCO
3
ZnSO
4
+ CO
2
+ H
2
O
Acids give red colour to litmus
Bases give blue colour to litmus
Bases give salt and water when reacting with acids (Neutralisation). Metal oxides and hydroxides are bases.
Alkalis are bases which can dissolve in water. Alkalis (like NaOH) when warmed with ammonium salts, ammonia
gas will be given off.
NH4Cl + NaOH NaCl + NH3 + H2O
Ammonium chloride Sodium hydroxide Sodium chloride Ammonia Water
Ammonia gas is alkaline gas which turns litmus colour to blue.
pH
is a measurement to show how strong an acid or a base is.
Lower the pH, stronger the acid and higher the pH, stronger the base.
pH below 7 is acids, pH 7 is neutral and pH above 7 is alkaline
pH 0,1,2 are for strong acid and 3-7 is weak acids. pH 14,13 are for strong bases and 7-12 weaker bases.
pH 7 is neutral.
Universal indicator gives different colours for different pH
(strong acid) Red orange yellow green(neutral) light blue deep blue purple (strong base)

Strong and weak acids and bases
Strong acids and bases ionise completely in to ions when mixed with water.
Strong acids give out maximum hydrogen ions (H+) and strong base give out maximum hydroxide ions (OH-)
HCl, H
2
SO
4
and HNO
3
are strong acids
HCl H
+
+ Cl
-

H
2
SO
4
2H
+
+ SO
4
2-

NaOH, KOH and Ca(OH)
2
are strong bases
NaOH Na
+
+ OH
-

Weak acids and bases ionise partially with water. So weak acids contain smaller number of Hydrogen ions (H+)and
weak bases contain smaller number of hydroxide ions (OH-).
Ethanoic acid, citric acid, carbonic acid etc are weak acids
CH
3
-COOH CH
3
-COO
-
+ H
+
(ethanoic acid)
Ammonia solution, copper hydroxide are weak bases
NH
4
OH NH
4
+
+ OH
-
(ammonia solution)
In a reaction acids give out hydrogen ions, H
+
(Hydrogen ion is formed after hydrogen atom loses an
electron. It is left with only a proton). So acid is a proton donor.
HCl Cl
-
+ H
+

In a reaction, a base accepts the hydrogen ion (proton).
NaOH + H
+
Na
+
+ H
2
O
Weak bases such as Calcium oxide (Lime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) are used to remove soil and
water acidity.
Magnesium hydroxide (weak base) is used to remove stomach acidity.
Salts IGCSE Chemistry
A salt has two parts. First part is normally a metal ion or ammonium ion which is positive. Second part comes from
the acid. This part depends on the acid and is negative ion.
Hydrochloric acid HCl makes chloride ion Cl
-

Sulphuric acid H
2
SO
4
makes sulphate ion SO
4
2-

Nitric acid HNO
3
makes nitrate ion NO
3
-

Carbonic acid H
2
CO
3
makes carbonate ion CO
3
2-
Phosphoric acid H
3
PO
4
makes phosphate ion PO
4
3-



Example:

Making salts
You can make salts by reacting metals, insoluble bases, or soluble bases with acids. A fourth method is
precipitation(Double Decomposition)
1. Acid with metals:
Example: To make Zinc sulphate salt
1. Take sulphuric acid in a beaker. Add excess zinc to the sulphuric acid. Warm the mixture.
Zn
(s)
+ H
2
SO
4(aq)
ZnSO
4(aq)
+ H
2(g)

Hydrogen bubbles are given off. Stops when all the acid is used up.
2. Excess zinc is removed by filtration. This leaves an aqueous solution of zinc sulphate.
Excess zinc will help for the complete reaction of the acid so that the filtrate at the end is pure without acid.
3. The solution is heated in an evaporating dish to evaporate water until crystallisation point. Then it is left to cool
and crystals of zinc sulphate start to form.
2. Acid with soluble base (alkali):

Example: To make Potassium chloride salt by using Potassium hydroxide and Hydrochloric acid
KOH
(aq)
+ HCl
(aq)
KCl
(aq)
+ H
2
O
(l)
1. Conduct a titration of alkali (Potassium hydroxide) with acid (Hydrochloric acid) using an indicator.
2. Add the acid from a burette, just a little at a time. Mix the contents of acid and alkali.
3. When the indicator shows a colour change, stop adding acid.
4. Find how much acid was used.
5. Carry out the experiment with the same ratio of acid and alkali volumes again without the indicator. This is
because the indicator will make the salt impure.
6. Heat and evaporate the solution in an evaporating dish until crystallisation point. Leave it in room conditions for
the complete crystallisation.
3. Acid with insoluble base
Example: Making copper(II) sulphate crystals
CuO
(s)
+ H
2
SO
4(aq)
CuSO
4(aq)
+ H
2
O
(l)

1. Take sulphuric acid in a beaker.
2. Add excess copper (II) oxide to the acid. (Copper(II) oxide is a black powder). Warm the mixture. Excess
copper(II)oxide will help for the complete reaction of the acid so that the filtrate at the end is pure without
acid. During the reaction, we see the solution turns the colour to blue.
3. Remove the unreacted copper(II) oxide by filtration.
4. Heat and evaporate the filtrate until crystallisation point.
5. Leave the content at room temperature to form all crystals.

4. Precipitation (Double Decomposition)
Insoluble salts can be made by precipitation
Example: Preparing barium sulphate
K
2
SO
4(aq)
+ BaCl
2(aq)
BaSO
4(s)
+ 2KCl
(aq)
Barium sulphate is an insoluble salt. You can make Barium sulphate, mix solutions of barium chloride(soluble) and
Potassium sulphate (soluble).
1. Make up solutions of barium chloride and potassium sulphate separately.
2. Mix them. A white precipitate of barium sulphate forms at once.
3. Filter the mixture. The precipitate is trapped in the filter paper.
5. Then dry the residue in the filter paper in room temperature or in an oven.
Soluble and insoluble chemicals
How do I know which substances dissolve in water????
All compounds start with sodium, potassium and ammonium will dissolve in water
All compounds contain nitrate will dissolve in water.
All sulphate compounds dissolve except Barium sulphate and Lead sulphate.
All chloride compounds dissolve except Silver chloride and Lead chloride.
All carbonates are insoluble except sodium carbonate, Potassium carbonate and Ammonium carbonate.
Oxides and hydroxides of Sodium, Potassium and Calcium are soluble. Others are insoluble.