INDUSTRIAL ACIDS AND BASES

HISTORY

 The word acid comes from the Latin word acere, which means "sour." All acids taste
sour. Well known acids from ancient times were vinegar, sour milk and lemon juice.
 Early in the 1200s, the strong mineral acids were first isolated. Sulfuric acid was made by
heating green vitriol [iron(II) sulfate] and condensing the vapor into water.
 Jabir Ibn Hayyan discovered nitric acid and the mixture of nitric acids which was called
aqua regia or “kingly water” and has the ability to dissolve gold.
 The word alkali comes from the Arabic al-qily, which means "to roast in a pan" or "the
calcinated ashes of plants”. These plant ashes were regarded as having properties such as
the ability to reverse the action of acids and having detergent power. Thus, an alkali was
initially thought of as the antithesis of an acid.
 In 17th century, Svante Arrhenius successfully defined acids and bases when present as
aqueous solutions.
 In 1932, Johannes Bronsted and Thomas Martin Lowry provided a broader definition for
acids and bases compared to Arrhenius

ACID - a chemical substance whose aqueous solutions are characterized by a sour taste, the
ability to turn blue litmus to red, and the ability to react with bases and certain metals
(like calcium) to form salts.

Some Types of Acids:

a. Mineral Acids – any inorganic acids. Examples are hydrochloric acid, nitric acid,
sulfuric acid, etc.
b. Organic Acids – carboxylic acids and other types of organic acids. Examples are acetic
acid, formic acid, etc.
c. Sulfonic Acids – has the general formula RS(=O)2–OH, where R is an organic radical.
Examples are Methanesulfonic acid (or mesylic acid, CH3SO3H), Benzenesulfonic
acid (or besylic acid, C6H5SO3H), p-Toluenesulfonic acid (or tosylic acid,
CH3C6H4SO3H), etc.

PROPERTIES OF ACID

 All acids taste sour.

 Acids have pH less than 7.0
 Turns blue litmus to red.
 Acids destroy the chemical properties of bases.
 It can conduct electric current.
 Reacts with bases to form water and ionic compounds called salts.
  Strong acids can destroy fabric and are very corrosive.

USES OF ACID

 Used to remove rust and other corrosion from metals in a process known as pickling
 Used as an electrolyte in a wet cell battery, such as sulfuric acid in a car battery
 Strong acids, sulfuric acid in particular, are widely used in mineral processing
 acids react in neutralization reactions to produce salts
 Used as catalysts; for example, sulfuric acid is used in very large quantities in the
alkylation process to produce gasoline
 Strong acids, such as sulfuric, phosphoric and hydrochloric acids also affect dehydration
and condensation reactions.
 Acids are used as additives to drinks and foods, as they alter their taste and serve as
preservatives. Phosphoric acid, for example, is a component of cola drinks.

BASE – a substance that can accept a hydrogen ion (H+) from another substance. This is any
class of compounds that form hydroxyl ions (OH) when dissolved in water, and whose aqueous
solutions react with acids to form salts.

A strong base is a base that gives off a hydroxide ion, OH–, when put in water.

PROPERTIES OF BASE
 Concentrated or strong bases are caustic on organic matter and react violently with acidic
substances.
 Aqueous solutions or molten bases dissociate in ions and conduct electricity.
 Reactions with indicators: bases turn red litmus paper blue, phenolphthalein pink, keep
bromothymol blue in its natural colour of blue, and turn methyl orange yellow.
 The pH of a basic solution at standard conditions is greater than seven.
 Bases are bitter in taste.
 Slippery or slimmy in skin

USES OF BASE
 Bases are used in manufacturing of soaps
 For neutralizing acids bases are needed.
 Bases are important for the manufacture of fertilizers.
 Some bases are also used as explosives like in mining works.
 It’s an important source for removal of grease, etc.
 Bases are used in manufacture of paper in industries
Other Uses of Base are:

 Sodium hydroxide is used in manufacture of soap, paper and a synthetic fiber called
"rayon".
 Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) is used in the manufacture of bleaching powder.
 Calcium hydroxide is also used to clean the sulfur dioxide, which is caused by exhaust,
that is found in power plants and factories.
 Magnesium hydroxide is used as an 'antacid' to neutralize excess acid in the stomach and
cure indigestion.
 Sodium carbonate is used as washing soda and for softening hard water.
 Sodium hydrogen carbonate is used as baking soda in cooking food, for making baking
powders, as an antacid to cure indigestion and in soda acid fire extinguisher.

Examples of Industial Acids and Bases

Source/s:
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/hillkolb13einfo/assets/pdf/hill-kolb-ch07.pdf
https://www.bjupress.com/resources/pdfs/science/chemistry/c16-acids-bases-salts.pdf
https://prezi.com/7ein_zqyf7ov/industrial-acids-and-bases/
yahooanswers.com
 Cabbage Chemistry – Finding Acids and Bases
I. Introduction

You might have done experiments with well-labeled acids and bases in school, but have you
ever wondered whether a certain food or chemical around the house is an acid or a base? You
can find out using a red cabbage to make an indicator solution.

When two or more ingredients are entirely dissolved in one another, you have a solution. For
example, mixing salt with water creates a clear solution, even though the salt is there and the
solution tastes salty. When mixed with water, whether a chemical "donates" a charged particle
(called an ion) to the solution—in this case, a hydrogen ion—or "accepts" one from it determines
whether it's an acidic or basic solution. An indicator changes color when exposed to such a
mixture, depending on whether the solution is acidic or basic.

II. Background

Acids are solutions that lose hydrogen ions and usually taste sour. Some very common
household solutions are acids, such as citrus fruit juices and household vinegar. Bases are
solutions that pull hydrogen ions out of solution and onto themselves, "accepting" them, and
usually feel slippery. Bases have many practical uses. For example, "antacids" like TUMS are
used to reduce the acidity in your stomach. Other bases make useful household cleaning
products.

To tell if something is an acid or a base, you can use a chemical called an indicator. An
indicator changes color when it encounters an acid or base. There are many different types of
indicators, some that are liquids and others that are concentrated on little strips of "litmus" paper.
Indicators can be extracted from many different sources, including the pigment of many plants.
For example, red cabbages contain an indicator pigment molecule called flavin, which is a type
of molecule called an anthocyanin. Very acidic solutions will turn an anthocyanin red whereas
neutral solutions will make it purplish and basic solutions will turn it greenish-yellow.
Consequently, the color an anthocyanin solution turns can be used to determine a solution's pH—
a measure of how basic or acidic a solution is.
 III. Materials

Materials
Beaker Lime juice
Wire gauze Vinegar
Tripod Bleach based cleaning product
Bunsen burner Clear soda pop
Stirring rod Egg whites
Small transparent plastic cups Toothpaste
Strainer soap
Spatula

IV. Procedure
Preparation:
1. Grate a small red cabbage. If you do not want to grate the entire cabbage, grating half of a
cabbage should be enough. Put the fine, pulpy grated cabbage into a large beaker.
2. Boil a pot of water. Use caution when handling the boiling water. Pour the boiling water
into the large beaker with the cabbage pulp until the water just covers the cabbage.
3. Leave the cabbage mixture steeping, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is room
temperature. This should take at least half an hour. The liquid will become red or
purplish-red in color.
4. Place a strainer over another large beaker and pour the cabbage mixture through the
strainer to remove the cabbage pulp. Press down on the pulp in the strainer, such as by
using a large spoon, to squeeze more liquid out of the pulp.
5. In the beaker, you should now have only liquid that will either be purple or blue in color.
This will be your indicator solution, which you will use to test the pH of different liquids.

Procedure:
1. Fill a small, white paper cup, drinking glass or white dish with one tablespoon of your
cabbage-indicator solution.
2. Add drops of lemon or lime juice to the indicator solution until you see the solution
change in color. Gently swirl the solution and make sure the color stays the same.
3. In another small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator
solution. Add drops of vinegar until you see the solution change color.
4. In a third small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator
solution. Handling it with caution, add drops of the bleach cleaning product until you see
the solution change color.
5. Again add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution to a small, white
paper cup and add drops of the food until you see the solution change color. If the food is
not in liquid form, crush it or dissolve it in a small amount of water before adding it to the
indicator solution.
 The color of the solution will change depending on its pH: Red color indicates the pH is
2; Purple indicates pH 4; Violet indicates pH 6; Blue indicates pH 8; Blue-green indicates pH 10;
Greenish-yellow indicates pH 12.

Reference:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-cabbage-chemistry/