CYKANG SPM CHEMISTRY 2015

CHAPTER 7 Basicity Of Acids

1. Basicity of an acid is the number of hydrogen ions which can be produced by one molecule of
the acid.
2. There are 3 common types of Basicity of an acid
1. monoprotic
2. diprotic
3. triprotic

Monoprotic Acids
The monoprotics acids are the acids that produced 1 H+ ion from each acid molecule.
Example

Diprotic Acids
The diprotics acids are the acids that produced 2 H+ ion from each acid molecule.
Example

Triprotic Acids
The triprotics acids are the acids that produced 3 H+ ion from each acid molecule.
Example
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Physical Properties Of Acids

1. Acids have the following physical properties:

1. Tastes sour
2. Turns moist blue litmus to red
3. pH value < 7
4. Can conduct electricity
5. Corrosive

Colour of Litmus in Acids

1. Litmus can be used as acid/alkali indicator.

2. Image below shows the colour of litmus paper when immerse in acid and alkali.
3. The litmus turn red in acids and turn blue in alkali.

pH value of acids
1. pH value is quantity to measure the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. The
higher the concentration of hydrogen, the lower the pH value of the solution.
2. Pure water has pH value of 7.
3. All acids has pH value lower than 7.

Electrical Conductivity of Acids

1. Acids are covalent compounds.
2. However, when acids dissolve in water, they ionise to form ions in the solution.
3. Since there are free moving ions in the solution, hence the solution can act as an
electrolyte to conduct electricity.

Chemical Properties Of Acids

1. Acids have the following chemical properties:
1. Acid + Reactive Metal Salt + Hydrogen gas
2. Acid + Metal Carbonate Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide gas
3. Acid + Base oxide Salt + Water
4. Acid + Alkali Salt + Water
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Chemical Properties Of Acids - Acid + Reactive Metal

1. Acids react with metals that is more electropositive than hydrogen in the electrochemical series
to produce salt and hydrogen gas.
2. Acids do not react with copper and silver.
3. This is actually a displacement, where the metals that are placed above hydrogen in
Electrochemical Series displace hydrogen from acid.

Acids + Reactive Metal Salt + Hydrogen Gas

Example:
Sulphuric acid + Zinc
H2SO4+ZnZnSO4+H2

Nitric acid + Lead

2HNO3+PbPb(NO3)2+H2
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Example of Experiment

Procedure

1. About 5 cm of dilute sulphuric acid is poured into a test tube.

2. One spatula of zinc powder is added into the acid.
3. A burning wooden splinter is placed at the mouth of the test tube.
4. The observations are recorded.

Observation
Colourless gas is released. A "pop" sound produced when the wooden splinter is placed at the mouth
of the test tube.

Inference
Hydrogen gas is released

Chemical Equation

H2SO4+ZnZnSO4+H2
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Chemical Properties Of Acids - Acid + Carbonate

Acids react with metal carbonates produces salt, water and carbon dioxide
Acids + Metal Carbonate Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide Gas

Example:
Sulphuric acid + Lime Stone
H2SO4+CaCO3CaSO4+CO2+H2O

Nitric acid + Copper(II) Carbonate

2HNO3+CuCO3Cu(NO3)2+CO2+H2O

Example of Experiment

Procedure
1. About 5 cm of dilute sulphuric acid is poured into a test tube.
2. One spatula of calcium carbonate powder is added into the test tube.
3. The gas released is passed through lime water as shown in the diagram above.
4. The observations are recorded

Observation
Colourless gas is released. The gas turn lime water chalky.

Inference
1. Sulphuric acid reacts with calcium carbonate.
2. The gas released is carbon dioxide.
Chemical Equation:

H2SO4+CaCO3CaSO4+CO2+H2O
 CYKANG SPM CHEMISTRY 2015

Chemical Properties Of Acids - Acid + Alkali

1. Acids react with alkali produces salt and water only.

2. This is called a neutralisation reaction.

Acids + Alkali Salt + Water (Neitralisation)

Example:
Ethanoic Acid + Sodium Hydroxide

CH3COOH+NaOHCH3COONa+H2O

Hydrochloric Acid + Ammonia Solution

HCl+NH3NH4Cl

Writing Ionic Equation Of The Reactions Of Acids

Steps in writing the ionic equation of the reactions of acids:

1. Write the chemical equation of the reaction.

2. List down all the ion presence below the equation.
3. Cancel the ions that do not change in the reaction.
4. Rewrite the equation with only the ions that have changed in the reaction.

Example

Write the ionic equations for the following reactions:

a. Acids + Zinc
b. Acids + Metal Carbonate
c. Acids + Base Oxide
d. Acids + Alkali
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Answer:
a. Acids + Zinc
We can use any acid for the reaction, as it will not affect the ionic equation at the end.
In this case, let's use hydrochloric acid for the chemical equation.

b. Acids + Metal Carbonate

Let's use hydrochloric acid and calcium carbonate
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c. Acids + Base Oxide

Let's use Hydrochloric acid and Zinc Oxide

d. Acids + Alkali
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Role Of Water To Show Properties Of Acids

1. The presence of water is essential for the formation of hydrogen ions and it is only the presence
of these ions which causes acidity.
2. Without water, an acid wont show the properties of acid.

Example
Without water, the molecules of ethanoic acid do not disassociate to form hydrogen ions. Without
hydrogen ions, ethanoic acid does not shows acidity

With the presence of water, the molecules of ethanoic acid disassociate and form hydrogen ions. With
the presence of hydrogen ions, ethanoic acid shows acidity .
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Strong Acids And Weak Acids

1. Acids are chemical substances that ionize/dissociate in the presence of water to produce
hydrogen ions (or hydroxonium ions).
2. Acids can be classified into 2 categories:
1. Strong acids
2. Weak acids
3. The strength of an acid depends on the degree of ionization/dissociation of the acid.

Strong Acids
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Strong acids are acids that ionise completely to form hydrogen ions in water.
Examples:
Sulphuric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Nitric acid

Weak Acids

Weak acids are acids that partly ionise to form hydrogen ions in water.
Examples:
Ethanoic acid
Phosphoric acid
Citric acid
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Bases
1. Bases are compounds which react with acid to form a salt and water as only products.
2. Bases that soluble in water are called alkalis.

3. In aqueous solution, alkali it produces hydroxide ions (OH -). In short, alkalis are substances that
form hydroxide ions (OH-(aq)) in water
Example
Sodium hydroxide NaOH gives Na+(aq) and OH-(aq) ions,

NaOH Na+ + OH-

calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 gives Ca2+(aq) and 2OH-(aq) ions.

Ca(OH)2 Ca2+ + 2OH-

Ammonia give NH4+ and OH-

NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OH-

[Note: an alkali is a base soluble in water.]

4. In alkaline solution there are more OH- ions than H+ ions.

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Physical Properties Of Alkali

The following are the physical properties of alkali

1. Alkalis are bitter in taste.

2. Alkalis turn litmus from red to blue.
Like acid, alkali can change the colour of litmus. In alkali solution, the colour of litmus turn blue.
3. Alkalis are soapy to touch.
4. Alkalis has pH value more than 7
pH value is a measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. Alkali has very
low concentration of solution hydrogen ion, even lower than water. Hence the pH value of alkali
is higher than 7. (Note: The pH value of water is 7. The lower the concentration of hydrogen
ions, the higher the pH value.
5. Alkalis can conduct electricity
When a base dissolve in water, it will dissociate and form hydroxide ions. The present of the
freely move ions make alkali an electrolyte.

Chemical Properties Of Bases/Alkalis

1. Alkalis react with acids to form a salt and water this is a neutralisation reaction:
2. Alkalis, when warmed with ammonium salts, give off ammonia gas:

Reaction between Alkalis and Acids

Acid + Alkali Salt + Water

Example:
Potassium hydroxide + Nitric Acid Potassium Nitrate + Water
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Alkali heat with Ammonium Salts

Ammonium Salt + Alkali Salt + Ammonia + Water

Example:
Ammonium Chloride + Sodium Hydroxide Sodium chloride + Water + Ammonia

NH4Cl + NaOH NaCl + H2O + NH3

More examples:

2NH4Cl + Ca(OH)2 CaCl2+2H2O+ 2NH3

(NH4)2SO4+ 2NaOH+Na2SO4+2H2O+ 2NH3

Ammonia as an Alkali
1. By nature, ammonia is a covalent compound.
2. Ammonia exists as gas at room temperature.
3. Ammonia gas is soluble in water.
4. Physical properties of ammonia:
1. Pungent smell
2. Colourless
3. Turn litmus from red to blue

The Role Of Water In Showing Alkaline Properties

1. Alkali shows alkaline properties only in the presence of water.
2. When water is present, ionisation of alkali produces OH-, ions that are responsible for the alkali
properties
3. Without the presence of water, there are no free-moving hydroxide ions. Therefore, in the
absence of, alkalis do not show alkalinity
4. Diagram below shows the illustration to investigate the role of water in showing alkaline
properties of ammonia.
5. The ammonia dissolve in water can turn red litmus paper to blue whereas the dry ammonia gas
of the ammonia gas dissolve in propanone give no effect to the litmus paper.
 CYKANG SPM CHEMISTRY 2015

Strength Of Alkalis
1. Similar to strength of acids, the strength of an alkali is defined by its ability to ionise and release
hydroxide ions (OH-) in the solution.
2. In a solution of strong alkali, all the alkali molecules are ionised in the water to produce
hydroxide ions.
3. In a solution of weak alkali, only small portion of the molecules are ionised to release hydroxide
ions.
4. Table below shows some example of strong/weak alkalis.

Alkali
Strong Weak
NaOH NH3
KOH
LiOH

PH Scale
1. pH scale is a measure of acidity and alkalinity. Practically, it is numbered between 0 and 14.
2. Neutral substance has pH of 7.
3. A solution of pH less than 7 is acidic The lower the pH, the more acidic the solution or the
higher the concentration of H+ ions in the solution.
4. A solution of pH above 7 is alkaline. The higher the pH, the more alkaline the solution or higher
concentration of OH- ions presence in the solution.
5. The pH of a solution can be measured by using the Universal indicator, pH paper or with a pH-
meter.
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Acids / Alkali Indicator

1. An indicator is a substance or mixture of substances that when added to the solution gives
different colours depending on the pH of the solution. Table below shows the colour of
indicators in neutral, acidic and alkaline solution.
colour in acid colour in neutral colour in alkali pH
Indicator
pH<7 pH=7 >7
litmus red 'purple' blue
phenolphthalein colourless colourless pink
methyl orange pinky red orange about pH 6 yellow
methyl red red orange yellow
bromothymol blue yellow green blue
2. The best indicator of all is the universal indicator.
3. It can be used to show not only whether a substance is acidic or alkaline, but also whether it is a
strong acid or a weak acid.

(Colour of indicator at different pH value)

Solute, Solvent And Solution

If a substance dissolves in a liquid, it is called a solute and the liquid is called the solvent. The
resulting mixture is called a solution.

Solute + Solvent = Solution

Solute Solid which dissolves

Solvent Liquid which does the dissolving
Solution Solute + solvent
Saturated A solution which will dissolve no more solute.
solution
Soluble A substance that will dissolve in a solvent.
substance
Insoluble A substance that will not dissolve in a solvent
substance
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Conversion Of Concentration Unit

1. The chart above shows how to convert the units of concentration from g dm-3 to mol dm-3and
vice versa.
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2. The molar mass of the solute is equal to the relative molecular mass of the solute.
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Molarity And Number Of Moles

Number of mole of solute in a solution can be calculated by using the following formula

where
n = number of mole of solute
M = molaruty of the solution
V = volume of the solution in cm3

Example:
How many moles of zinc sulphate is present in 200cm 3 of 0.1 mol dm-3 zinc sulphate solution?

Answer:
Molarity, M = 0.1 mol dm-3
Voloume, V = 200cm3

Molarity And The PH Value Of Acid Or Alkali

1. The table below shows the pH value and the molarity of a strong acid and a weak acid.
Molarity of Acis pH value
Hydrochloric acid Ethanoic Acid
0.1 mol dm-3 1.0 2.9
0.01 mol dm-3 2.0 3.4
0.001 mol dm-3 3.0 3.9
0.0001 mol dm-3 4.0 4.4
0.00001 mol dm-3 5.0 4.9
2. The table below shows the pH value and the molarity of a strong alkali and a weak alkali.
Molarity of alkali pH value
Sodium hydroxide Ammonia aqueus
solution
0.1 mol dm-3 13.0 11.1
0.01 mol dm-3 12.0 10.6
0.001 mol dm-3 11.0 10.1
 CYKANG SPM CHEMISTRY 2015

0.0001 mol dm-3 10.0 9.6

0.00001 mol dm-3 9.0 9.1
3. According to the tables shown above, we can conclude that the pH value of acid or alkali is
affected by 2 factors:
1. The Molarity
2. Strong or weak acid(Alkali)

Concentration Of Acid
1. We have learned that the acidity of a solution is owing to the presence of hydrogen ions in a
solution.
2. We need to distinguish between the concentration of acid and the concentration of hydrogen
ions of an acid.
3. In most cases, the concentration of hydrogen ions has greater significant than the concentration
of the acid.
4. The concentration of hydrogen ion in acid depends on the

1. molarity (concentration) of the acid

The higher the molarity of an acid, the higher the concentration (or molarity) of the hydrogen ions in
the acid
2. strength of the acid
Strong acid has higher concentration of hydrogen ions compare with weak acid of same concentration
and same basicity
3. basicity of the acid
The concentration of hydrogen ions of a diprotic acid is higher than the monoprotic acid and lower
than the triprotic acid
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Dilution
1. Dilution is a process of adding water to the standard solution lowered the concentration of the
solution.
2. In dilution of solution, we should take note that mole of solute before dilution is equal to the
mole of solute after dilution.

Number of mol of solute before dilution = Number of mole of solute after dilution

M1 = Molarity before dilution

M2 = Molarity after dilution
V1 = Volume before dilution
V2 = Volume after dilution
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Preparing A Standard Solution

1. A standard solution is a solution in which its concentration is known.
2. The steps taken in preparing a standard solution are:
1. Determine the voloume and concentration that you want to prepare.
2. Calculate the mass of solute needed to give the required volume and concentration.
3. Weigh the solute
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4. Dissolve the solute completely dissolved in distilled water and then transfer it to a
volumetric flask partially filled with distilled water.
5. Add distilled water to the calibration mark of the volumetric flask.
6. Invert the flask and shake it to make sure thorough mixing.
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