Ph - acids and bases - igcse/gcse /chemistry notes

pH is a measure of how acidic or how alkaline a solution in water is.The pH scale goes from 1 to 14,with 1 being very strongly acidic,and 14 being very strongly alkaline.A pH of 7 is neutral. You can measure the pH of a solution using universal indicator.Just as litmus paper will be red for an acid and blue for an alkali,so universal indicator is a mixture of indicatorswhich will give a different colour for a different pH. Any acid will have a pH of less than 7.Any alkali will have a pH of more than 7. A strong acid (HCl or H2SO4 or HNO3 )will have a pH of 1 (red). A weak acid will have a pH of 3 to 4 (orange).Examples of weak acids are ethanoic acid(vinegar),citric acid (lemon juice) and rain water. Rain water has a natural pH of 55 (see carbonic acid). Water and salts are neutral, pH 7

(green). A weak alkali (ammonia) will have a pH of 11 to 12 (blue). A strong alkali (Ca(OH)2or NaOH) will have a pH of 14 (purple).

Chapter 12 - Acids and Bases I. Properties of Acids and Bases

ACIDS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Taste sour Reach with certain metals (Zn, Fe, etc.) to produce hydrogen gas cause certain organic dyes to change color react with limestone (CaCO3) to produce carbon dioxide React with bases to form salts and water

BASES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Taste bitter feel slippery or soapy react with oils and grease cause certain organic dyes to change color react with acids to form salts and water

Define: + o Acid - a substance that produces protons, H o Base - a substance that produces hydroxide ions, OH

II. Reaction of acids and bases with water:

Acids and bases form ions in solution: HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) H3O+ - hydronium ion H+ and H3O+ are equivalent in aq. solution When we look at the reactions of acids - can be generalized using hydrogen ion 1. Reaction with zinc yields hydrogen gas 2. Reaction with limestone - produce CO2(g) 3. Acids react with bases to produce a salt

Similarly for bases, produce hydroxide ions

III. Neutralization and Salts

Neutralization - one type of double replacement reaction Acid + Base Salt + water Net ionic equation shows what drives the neutralization reaction

example: Molecular: HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O(l) Total Ionic: H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) + Na+(aq) + OH-(aq) Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq) + H2O(l) Net Ionic: H+(aq) + OH-(aq) H2O(l)

SALT - a salt is formed from the anion of the acid and the cation of the base usually present as spectator ions. - not always NaCl

IV. Types of Acids

Monoprotic - a solution that produces one mole of H+ ions per mole of acid HCl , HNO3 Diprotic - a solution that produces two moles of H+ ions per mole of acid H2SO4 Triprotic - a solution that produces three moles of H+ ions per mole of acid H3PO4 Polyprotic - two ore more H+ per mole of acid

V. Polyprotic acids:

can be Partially neutralized acid salt - an ionic compound containing the anion with one or more hydrogens that can be neutralized with a base

VI. Strengths of Acids and Bases:

STRONG ACIDS o Acids that are essentially 100% ionized in aqueous solutions o ex: HCl, HNO3, HClO4 o produce the maximum concentration of H+ o [acid] = [H+] WEAK ACIDS o Acids that are partially ionized ( usually less than 5%) in equilibrium.
o

HF + H2O(l)

H3O+(aq) + F-(aq)

The forward and the reverse reaction are occurring simultaneously most found as HF. STRONG BASES o those compounds that completely ionize in water to produce OH- ions o NaOH(s) Na+(aq) + OH-(aq) o Concentration of base = concentration of hydroxide ions WEAK BASES
o o o

NH3(aq) + H2O(l) NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) equilibrium lies far to the left (mostly reactants present)

VII. Equilibrium of Water

H2O(l) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) + OH-(aq) Autoionization - produces positive and negative ions from the dissociation of the molecules of a liquid. Experimentally, found concentration of ions = 1.0 x 10-7 M at 25 C [H3O+][OH-] = Kw at 25 C (1.0 x 10-7)(1.0 x 10-7) = 1.0 x 10-14 Kw = ION PRODUCT - gives us the concentrations of hydronium and hydroxide ions in pure water and acidic and basic solutions
[H3O+] = [OH-] = 1.0 x 10-7 M [H3O+] > 1.0 x 10-7, [OH-] <1.0 x 10-7 [H3O+] < 1.0 x 10-7, [OH-] >1.0 x 10-7

Neutral Acidic Basic

VIII. pH Scale - another way of writing concentrations.

pH = -log[H3O+] pOH = -log[OH-] pH = 1.00 [H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-1M pH = 7.00 [H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-7M Sig. Figs: 1. The number of sig figs to the right of decimal in pH equals the number of total sig. figs. in the concentration.

2. The total number of sig. figs. in the concentration equals the number of sig. figs. to the right of the decimal in the pH.

IX. Similarly for hydroxide

pOH = -log[OH-] pOH = 1.00 [OH-] = 1.0 x 10-1M pOH = 7.00 [OH -] = 1.0 x 10-7M

pH + pOH = 14.000
pH = 7 pH < 7 pH > 7 pOH = 7 pOH > 7 pOH < 7

Neutral Acidic Basic

X. Brnsted-Lowry Acids and Bases

acid - a proton (H+) donor base - a proton (H+) acceptor NH3(aq) + H2O(aq) NH4+(aq) + OH- (aq)

NH3 and NH4+ are conjugate acid-base pairs H2O and OH- are conjugate acid-base pairs

Amphiprotic - a compound or ion that can either donate or accept H+ ions. H2O, HSO4- , HPO42-, HSO3- etc.

XI. Predicating acid base reactions in water:

Acid-Base reactions always yield conj. acid-base Strong Acid weak conj. base Strong Base weak conj. acid Weak Acid strong conj. base Weak Base strong conj. acid The strength of the reactant compared to the strength in the product determines which direction the equilibrium lies. Three predictions can be made: o The reactant may Not react at all, leaving essentially all reactants (negligible) o The reactants may Slightly react, leaving mostly reactants (limited) o The reactants may react (essentially) completely, leaving little or no reactants (favorable)

XI. Acidic and Basic Salt solutions:

Hydrolysis - the reaction of an anion with water to produce OH- or the reaction of a cation to produce H3O+ . Neutral solutions of salts: Cation does not undergo hydrolysis Anion does not undergo hydrolysis Basic solutions of salts: Cation same as above Anion undergoes some hydrolysis Acidic solutions of salts: Cation undergoes some hydrolysis Anion does not Complex solutions: Cation and anion undergoes hydrolysis Then you need to know the relative strength of each.

XII. Buffer solutions

Buffer solution - resists changes in pH caused by the addition of limited amounts of a strong acid or a strong base. A buffer solution must contain: A weak acid + its conjugate base or A weak base + its conjugate acid

THE COLLISION THEORY OF REACTION RATES

This page describes the collision theory of reaction rates. It concentrates on the key things which decide whether a particular collision will result in a reaction - in particular, the energy of the collision, and whether or not the molecules hit each other the right way around (the orientation of the collision). The individual factors which affect the rate of a reaction (temperature, concentration, and so on) are discussed on separate pages. You can get at these via the rates of reaction menu - there is a link at the bottom of the page. We are going to look in detail at reactions which involve a collision between two species.
Species: This is a useful term which covers any sort of particle you like - molecule, ion, or free radical.

Reactions where a single species falls apart in some way are slightly simpler because you won't be involved in worrying about the orientation of collisions. Reactions involving collisions between more than two species are going to be extremely uncommon (see below).

Reactions involving collisions between two species

It is pretty obvious that if you have a situation involving two species they can only react together if they come into contact with each other. They first have to collide, and then they may react. Why "may react"? It isn't enough for the two species to collide - they have to collide the right way around, and they have to collide with enough energy for bonds to break. (The chances of all this happening if your reaction needed a collision involving more than 2 particles are remote. All three (or more) particles would have to arrive at exactly the same point in space at the same time, with everything lined up exactly right, and having enough energy to react. That's not likely to happen very often!) The orientation of collision Consider a simple reaction involving a collision between two molecules - ethene,

CH2=CH2, and hydrogen chloride, HCl, for example. These react to give chloroethane.

As a result of the collision between the two molecules, the double bond between the two carbons is converted into a single bond. A hydrogen atom gets attached to one of the carbons and a chlorine atom to the other.
Note: The mechanism for this reaction is dealt with on a separate page. This might help you to understand why the orientation of the two molecules is so important. If you want to read a bit more about this, follow this link and use the BACK button on your browser to return to this page.

The reaction can only happen if the hydrogen end of the H-Cl bond approaches the carbon-carbon double bond. Any other collision between the two molecules doesn't work. The two simply bounce off each other.

Of the collisions shown in the diagram, only collision 1 may possibly lead on to a

reaction. If you haven't read the page about the mechanism of the reaction, you may wonder why collision 2 won't work as well. The double bond has a high concentration of negative charge around it due to the electrons in the bonds. The approaching chlorine atom is also slightly negative because it is more electronegative than hydrogen. The repulsion simply causes the molecules to bounce off each other.
Note: If you aren't sure about electronegativity , you might like to follow this link. Use the BACK button on your browser to return to this page.

In any collision involving unsymmetrical species, you would expect that the way they hit each other will be important in deciding whether or not a reaction happens.

The energy of the collision Activation Energy Even if the species are orientated properly, you still won't get a reaction unless the particles collide with a certain minimum energy called the activation energy of the reaction. Activation energy is the minimum energy required before a reaction can occur. You can show this on an energy profile for the reaction. For a simple over-all exothermic reaction, the energy profile looks like this:

Note: The only difference if the reaction was endothermic would be the relative positions of the reactants and productslines. For an endothermic change, the products would have a higher energy than the reactants, and so the green arrow would be pointing upwards. It makes no difference to the discussion about the activation energy.

If the particles collide with less energy than the activation energy, nothing important happens. They bounce apart. You can think of the activation energy as a barrier to the reaction. Only those collisions which have energies equal to or greater than the activation energy result in a reaction. Any chemical reaction results in the breaking of some bonds (needing energy) and the making of new ones (releasing energy). Obviously some bonds have to be broken before new ones can be made. Activation energy is involved in breaking some of the original bonds. Where collisions are relatively gentle, there isn't enough energy available to start the bond-breaking process, and so the particles don't react.

The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution Because of the key role of activation energy in deciding whether a collision will result in a reaction, it would obviously be useful to know what sort of proportion of the particles present have high enough energies to react when they collide. In any system, the particles present will have a very wide range of energies. For gases, this can be shown on a graph called the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution which is a plot of the number of particles having each particular energy.
Note: The graph only applies to gases, but the conclusions that we can draw from it can also be applied to reactions involving liquids.

The area under the curve is a measure of the total number of particles present.
Note: The reason for this lies in some maths beyond the scope of an A'level chemistry course. It is important that you remember that the area under the curve gives a count of the number of particles even if you don't understand why!

The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution and activation energy Remember that for a reaction to happen, particles must collide with energies equal to or greater than the activation energy for the reaction. We can mark the activation energy on the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution:

Notice that the large majority of the particles don't have enough energy to react when they collide. To enable them to react we either have to change the shape of the curve, or move the activation energy further to the left. This is described on other pages.

Rate is a measure of the speed that a reaction takes place at. In other words it is a measure of the change that happens in a single unit of time. When measuring rate of a reaction we usually measure the amount of reactant used up per unit of time or the amount of product produced per unit of time. When measuring the amount of product produced, a syringe can be used if the product is a gas. Alternatively, if the gas is allowed to escape during the reaction a measure of mass lost could be used to measure the rate. The rate changes throughout the reaction. The rate is greatest at the start, but gets less as the reaction proceeds. Rate of reaction can be changed by:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Change in concentration of reactants Change in temperature Change in surface area of reactants Use of a catalyst. A reaction goes faster when the concentration of a reaction is increased. A reaction proceeds at a quicker rate when the temperature is raised. When the temperature increases by 10 oC, the rate approximately doubles. Increasing surface area of solid reactants, increases the rate of a reaction. Catalysts increase the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy. This means more successful collisions will take place over a period of time. A catalyst is a substance that changes the rate of a chemical reaction but remains chemically unchanged.

Rate is a measure of the speed that a reaction takes place at. In other words it is a measure of the change that happens in a single unit of time. When measuring rate of a reaction we usually measure the amount of reactant used up per unit of time or the amount of product produced per unit of time. When measuring the amount of product produced, a syringe can be used if the product is a gas. Alternatively, if the gas is allowed to escape during the reaction a measure of mass lost could be used to measure the rate. The rate changes throughout the reaction. The rate is greatest at the start, but gets less as the reaction proceeds. Rate of reaction can be changed by: 1. 2. Change in concentration of reactants Change in temperature

3. 4.

Change in surface area of reactants Use of a catalyst. A reaction goes faster when the concentration of a reaction is increased. A reaction proceeds at a quicker rate when the temperature is raised. When the temperature increases by 10 oC, the rate approximately doubles. Increasing surface area of solid reactants, increases the rate of a reaction. Catalysts increase the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy. This means more successful collisions will take place over a period of time. A catalyst is a substance that changes the rate of a chemical reaction but remains chemically unchanged.

6.1 - Rates of reaction Rate of reaction is concerned with how quickly a reaction reaches a certain point. It can be defined as the decrease in concentration of the reactants per unit time or the increase in concentration of the products per unit time. A graph may be plotted of concentration against time, with time on the x-axis and some measure of how far the reaction has gone (ie concentration, volume, mass loss etc) on the y-axis. This will produce a curve and the rate at any given point is the gradient of the tangent to this curve.

6.2 - Collision theory Collision theory -- reactions take place as a result of particles (atoms or molecules) colliding and then undergoing a reaction. Not all collisions cause reaction, however, even in a system where the reaction is spontaneous. The particles must have sufficient kinetic energy, and the correct orientation with respect to each other for them to react.

Activation energy This is the minimum energy that particles colliding must have in order to produce successful reaction. It is given the symbol Ea (Energy of Activation). The energy of particles is expressed by their speed.

Changing the conditions Increasing the temperature of a substance increases the average speed (Energy) of the particles and consequently the number of particles colliding with sufficient energy (Ea) to react. At higher temperatures there are more successful collisions and therefore a faster reaction. At higher concentrations there are more collisions and consequently a faster reaction. Catalysts lower the activation energy by providing an alternative mechanism for the reaction/ greater probability of proper orientation. This results in a faster reaction. In hetrogeneous reactions (where the reactants are in different states) the size of the particles of a solid may change reaction rate, since the surface is where the reaction takes place, and the surface area is increased when the particles are more finely divided (therefore smaller solid particles in a hetrogeneous reaction tend to produce a faster reaction).

Mechanisms Most reactions involve several steps, which can be individually slow of fast, and which, all

together, make up the complete reaction. The slowest of these steps is called the rate determining step, as is determines how fast the reaction will go. It is also not necessary that all the reactants are involved in ever step, and so the rate determining step may not involve all the reactants. As a result, increasing the concentration (for example) of a reactant which is not involved in the rate determining step will not change the overall reaction rate.

Summary Condition Temperature Effect on rate increasing the temperature increases the rate of a reaction Explanation Two reasons: 1. There are more particles with sufficient energy to react (most important) - more successful collisions 2. There are more collisions There are more collisions as there are more particles in closer proximity

Concentration

Increasing the concentration of a reactant increases the rate of the reaction (usually) The smaller the particles the faster the reaction. (note: the solute particles in solutions have the smallest particle size possible. and so solutions react fastest) The presence of a catalyst increases the rate of a reaction

Particle size

Collisions occur at the surface of particles. The larger the particle size the smaller the surface area and the fewer collisions can occur.

Catalysts

Catalysts provide an alternative mechanism with a lower activation energy