ACID-BASE

EQUILIBRIA
THE ARRHENIUS THEORY OF ACIDS
AND BASES

•Acids are substances which produce

hydrogen ions in solution.
•Bases are substances which produce
hydroxide ions in solution.
•Neutralisation happens because
hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions
react to produce water.
THE BRONSTED-LOWRY THEORY
OF ACIDS AND BASES

•An acid is a proton (hydrogen ion)

donor.

•A base is a proton (hydrogen ion)

acceptor
• The HA is an acid because it is donating a
proton (hydrogen ion) to the water.

• The water is a base because it is accepting

a proton from the HA.

• The H3O+ is an acid because it is donating a

proton (hydrogen ion) to the A- ion.

• The A- ion is a base because it is accepting

a proton from the H3O+.
The reversible reaction contains two
acids and two bases, called
CONJUGATE PAIRS
 ACIDS

STRONG WEAK

IONIZES COMPLETELY DOES NOT IONIZE

WHEN IT IS DISSOLVED IN FULLY WHEN IS
WATER DISSOLVED IN WATER
 WEAK ACIDS

A weak acid is one which doesn't ionise

fully when it is dissolved in water.

Ethanoic acid is a typical weak acid.

About 1% of the ethanoic acid molecules

have converted into ions. The rest remain as
simple ethanoic acid molecules.
 BASES

STRONG WEAK

IONIZES COMPLETELY DOES NOT IONIZE

WHEN IT IS DISSOLVED IN FULLY WHEN IS
WATER DISSOLVED IN WATER
Strong base
is something like sodium hydroxide or
potassium hydroxide which is fully ionic.
Each mole of sodium hydroxide dissolves to
give a mole of hydroxide ions in solution.
 WEAK BASES

A weak base is one which doesn't

convert fully into hydroxide ions in
solution
pH is a measure of the concentration of
hydrogen ions in a solution.
Each mole of HCl reacts with the water to give 1
mole of hydrogen ions and 1 mole of chloride ions.
What is the pH of 0.1 mol.dm-3 this acid?

[HCl] = 0.1 mol dm-3, then [H+] = 0.1 mol dm-3.

pH= -log10 [H+]

pH = - log10 [0.1]
pH = - (-1) = 1

The pH of this acid is 1.

The acid dissociation constant, Ka

The simplified version of the equilibrium reaction:

The table shows some values of Ka for some simple acids:

ACID Ka (mol dm-3)

hydrofluoric acid 5.6 x 10-4

methanoic acid 1.6 x 10-4

ethanoic acid 1.7 x 10-5

hydrogen sulphide 8.9 x 10-8

pKa, bares exactly the same relationship to Ka as pH
does to the hydrogen ion concentration:

ACID Ka (mol dm-3) pKa

hydrofluoric acid 5.6 x 10-4 3.3
methanoic acid 1.6 x 10-4 3.8
ethanoic acid 1.7 x 10-5 4.8
hydrogen sulphide 8.9 x 10-8 7.1
•The lower the value for pKa, the stronger the
acid.
•The higher the value for pKa, the weaker the
acid.
 pKb
The relationship between Kb and pKb is
exactly the same as all the other "p"
terms in this topic:
The table shows some values for Kb and pKb for
some weak bases.

BASE Kb (mol dm-3) pKb

C6H5NH2 4.17 x 10-10 9.38
NH3 1.78 x 10-5 4.75
CH3NH2 4.37 x 10-4 3.36
CH3CH2NH2 5.37 x 10-4 3.27
The value of Kb is increasing. That means
that the bases are getting stronger.
As Kb gets bigger, pKb gets smaller.
The lower the value of pKb, the stronger the
base.
 THE IONIC PRODUCT FOR WATER,
Kw and pKw

Water molecules can function as both

acids and bases.
One water molecule (acting as a base) can
accept a hydrogen ion from a second one
(acting as an acid).
 The ionic product for water, Kw

. . . or on the simplified equilibrium:

The value of Kw varies with temperature.

pKw. The relationship between Kw and pKw is

exactly the same as that between Ka and pKa, or
[H+] and pH.

The Kw value of 1.00 x 10-14 mol2 dm-6 at room

temperature gives you a pKw value of 14.
pKw doesn't have any units.
The table below shows the effect of temperature on Kw

T (°C) Kw (mol2 dm-6) pH

0 0.114 x 10-14 7.47

10 0.293 x 10-14 7.27

20 0.681 x 10-14 7.08

25 1.008 x 10-14 7.00

30 1.471 x 10-14 6.92

40 2.916 x 10-14 6.77

50 5.476 x 10-14 6.63

100 51.3 x 10-14 6.14

Find the pH of 0.500 mol dm-3 sodium hydroxide
solution.

NaOH(aq) → Na+(aq) + OH-(aq)

[NaOH] = [OH-] = 0.500 mol dm-3

[H+] [OH-] = 1.00 x 10-14

[H+] x 0.500 = 1.00 x 10-14
[H+] = 2 x 10-14 mol.dm-3
pH = - log10 [H+]
pH = 13.7
 Why does pure water have a pH of 7?

In pure water at room temperature the Kw value tells you that:

[H+] [OH-] = 1.00 x 10-14

[H+]2 = 1.00 x 10-14

[H+] = 1.00 x 10-7 mol dm-3

pH = - log10 [H+]
pH = 7
Question
The End