Topic 9: Acids and Bases 9.1 Properties of Acids and Bases 9.1.1.

Outline the characteristic properties of acids and bases in aqueous solution. The properties that must be considered are: effects on indicators and reactions of acids with bases, metals and carbonates. Bases which are not hydroxides, such as ammonia, soluble carbonates and hydrogencarbonates should be included. Alkalis are bases that dissolve in water. It is kind of hard to describe acids and bases without using either Bronsted-Lowry or Arrhenius, but I guess we will just describe what they do instead of what they are. Indicators are special substances that are added to solutions to tell what pH (is it acidic or basic?) that solution is. You dont need to know any specifics right now, just know that indicators change colors depending on the pH of the substance they are being mixed with. When acids mix with bases they USUALLY (not ALWAYS) produce water (HCl + NaOH H2O + NaCl). When acids mix with metal they normally produce hydrogen gas (2HCl + Mg MgCl2 + H2). When acids mix with carbonates they produce water and CO2 (2HCl + CaCO3 CO2 + H2O + CaCl2). The Carbon Dioxide is the fizzling that you see when you mix an acid with baking soda, carbon dioxide is being released in the form of a gas. Some examples of acids are: HCl (hydrochloric acid), CH3COOH (ethanoic acid), H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), NH4+ (ammonium). Some examples of bases are NaOH (sodium hydroxide), NH3(ammonia), and CH3COO-. The term alkaline applies to bases dissolved in water (an alkaline mixture is a basic mixture). 9.2 Strong and Weak Acids and Bases Note: Bronsted-Lowry definitions of acids and bases are not required for this subtopic. 9.2.1. Describe and explain the differences between strong and weak acids and bases in terms of the extent of dissociation, reaction with water and conductivity. The term ionization can be used instead of dissociation. Solutions of equal concentration can be compared by pH and/or conductivity. Strong and weak acids are defined by their ease of losing (or donating) a proton. A strong acid, when placed in water, will almost fully ionize/dissociate straight away, producing H3O+ ions from water. A weak acid will, however, only partially do this, leaving some unreacted acid remaining. Strong acids are much more conductive then weak acids because they dissociate completely and leave a lot of ions in water, which make them conducive while weak acids have much less ions in water and thus much less conductivity. Strong bases will accept all of the hydrogen ions in the reaction until they

are completely used up, while weak bases will only absorb some of them. A strong base will rip all the hydrogen it can from water molecules, leaving OH- behind, while weak bases wont do it as much. Strong bases also create more ions in solution, and are thus more conductive. 9.2.2. State whether a given acid or base is strong or weak. Specific strong acids are hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Specified weak acids are ethanoic acid and carbonic acid (aqueous carbon dioxide.) Specified strong bases are all group 1 hydroxides and barium hydroxide. Specified weak bases are ammonia and ethylamine. Strong Acids are: HCl, HNO3, H2SO4. Weak Acids are: CH3COOH, H2CO3. Strong Bases: Any group 1 hydroxide (ie NaOH, etc.), BaOH. Weak Bases: NH3, CH3CH2NH2. 9.2.3. Describe and explain data from experiments to distinguish between strong and weak acids and bases, and to determine the relative acidities and basicities of substances. One way to observe the strength of an acid or base is to observe its reactions where you know what the products will be. If an acid very quickly produces carbon dioxide when mixed with carbonates, then it is pretty strong, but if it is much weaker then it is not so strong. Same with metals and producing hydrogen gas. Other ways you can tell are by using pH paper or a meter, which tells you how strong/weak and acid or base is by giving you a value on the pH scale. The relative acidities (Im assuming that means diprotic or something) can also be found by neutralizing two acids with a strong base in the presence of an indicator. 9.3 The pH scale 9.3.1. Distinguish between aqueous solutions that are acidic, neutral or basic using the pH scale. On the pH scale, acidic aqueous solutions will have a value of less then 7. Neutral aqueous solutions will have a value of 7. Basic aqueous solutions will have a value that is greater then 7. 9.3.2. Identify which of two or more aqueous solutions is more acidic or basic, using pH values. Measure pH using a pH meter or pH paper. Students should know that pH paper contains a mixture of indicators. The theory of pH meters is not required. So, you have two substances and you want to know which one is more acidic or basic. How you normally do this is by using either pH paper or a pH meter. pH paper is a piece of paper that has in a mixture of indicators. When you insert it into a certain substance, the pH of that substance will turn one of the indicators in pH paper a certain color and you will observe that color and know that the substance if of a certain pH by comparing it with a scale that is brought with pH paper. You could also use a pH meter and it will tell

you exactly the pH of the solution. The solutions with more extreme values (lower or higher) are the ones that are more acidic or basic respectively. 9.3.3. State that each change of one pH unit represents a tenfold change in the hydrogen ion concentrations [H+(aq)]. Relate integral values of pH to [H+(aq)] expressed as powers of ten. Calculation of pH from [H+(aq)] is not required. The pH scale is a log scale, so each change of one pH unit represents a tenfold change in the hydrogen ion concentrations in the solution [H+(aq)](this value is how we get pH, more in HL). 9.3.4. Deduce changes in [H+(aq)] when the pH of a solution changes by more than one pH unit. So lets say your pH value changes by 2, from 5 to 3. At 5, you have .00001 moles per liter of hydrogen ions. At 3, you have .001 moles per liter of hydrogen ions. Lets say you go from 5 to 3.5. At 5 you have .00001 moles per liter of hydrogen ions. Concentration is 10(-pH) moles/liter. 9.4 Buffer Solutions 9.4.1. Describe a buffer solution in terms of its composition and behavior. A buffer resists change in pH when a small amount of a strong acid or base is added. Suitable examples include ammonium chloride/ammonia solution and ethanoic acid/sodium ethanoate. Blood is an example of a buffer solution. A buffered solution is one that resists a change in its pH when either hydroxide ions or protons are added. A buffered solution may contain a weak acid and its salt (for example, CH3COOH and NaCH3COO) or a weak base and its salt (for example, NH3 and NH4Cl). A good example of a buffered solution is your blood. It resists change in pH in either a more acidic or basic direction and if it didnt, your cells and proteins would stop working and you would die very quickly. 9.4.2. Describe ways of preparing buffer solutions. 9.5 Acid-base titrations 9.5.1. Draw and explain a graph showing pH against volume of titrant for titrations involving strong acids and bases. Graphs below. Notice that on both graphs the curve starts off going decreasing or increasing fairly slowly until it gets close to the equivalence point. This is because when the titration first begins there is a lot of H+ or OH- ions in solution already, and the titrant doesnt have much effect. However as you near the equivalence point the amount of ions that were already in there begins to drastically decrease, and then for a little bit the ions you add change the pH drastically because they are the only ions in solution, but then when you keep adding the more they have less of an effect because there is already a lot in them and it takes a considerable amount of ions to increase the pH (remember it is on a

log scale, to change pH one number at the more extreme ends requires a LOT more ions then it takes to change it at the equivalence point.)