ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL JANGLOTE

PROJECT WORK OF SCIENCE

Group member
Dilpreet, Digvijay Singh, Govardhan,
Happy devi, Bhupinder

Acid Base Indicators

 What are acids and bases?
There are many different definitions for classifying
a substance as an acid or a base.
Definitions are based on different theories
Arrhenius theory of acids and bases

Lowry-Bronsted theory of acids and bases

Lewis’s theory of acids and bases

 Arrhenius theory of acids and bases
Proposed in 1884 by Svante Arrhenius
An acid is a substance that contains hydrogen and produces
H+ in aqueous Solution. A base is a solution that contains
the OH group and produces Hydroxide ions OH-, in
aqueous solution

Neutralization is defined as the combination of H+ ions

with OH- ions to form H2O molecules.
H+ (aq) + OH-(aq) H2O(l)

Very Limited in Scope!!

 Lowry-Bronsted theory
Proposed in 1923 by N. Bronsted and T.M.Lowry

An acid is defined as a proton donor, H+, and a base is

Defined as a proton acceptor
An acid-base reaction is the transfer of a proton from
an acid to a base
The complete ionization of hydrogen chloride, HCl in water
is an acid-base reaction
Step 1: HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) (Arrehnius)
Step 2: H+ (aq) + H2O(l) H3O+
Overall: HCl(aq) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) + Cl-(aq) (LB)
Overall: HCl(aq) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) + Cl-(aq) (LB)
acid conjugate conjugate
base acid base

Overall: NH3(aq) + H2O(l) NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) (LB)

base conjugate conjugate
acid acid base

Whether water can act as an acid or base depends

on the other species present
 Autoionization of water
H2O (l) + H2O(l) H3O+ (aq) + OH-(aq)

Simplified notation
H2O(l) H+ (aq) + OH-(aq)

Water is said to be amphiprotic

 Strength of acids
Acids and bases are classified as strong or weak
depending on the extent to which they can ionize.
Higher ionization ≡ Strong
Strong acids and strong bases are completely ionized
Weak acids and weak bases are partially ionized
Strong acid does not necessarily mean that it is the
most corrosive acid. HF is a weak acid but it is one
of the most corrosive acids.
Strength of some acids:
HClO4 > HI > HBr > HCl > HNO3
H2SO4 > HNO3
 Lewis theory

Proposed in 1923 by G. N. Lewis

An acid is any species that can accept a share in an

electron pair. A base is any species that can make
available or donate a share in an electron pair.

A more broader definition. There is no need for

the molecule to have hydrogens.
 What happens when salts are
dissolved in water?
HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O(aq)
Acid Base Salt Water

NaCl(s) + H2O NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq)

Salt Water Base Acid

Depending on the strength of the acid and base

that are formed in solution, the medium will be
either acidic or basic
How do I know if the resulting
solution is acidic or basic?
Measure pH of the solution

What is pH?
It is the measure of hydrogen ions in solution
pH   LogH 3O 

pH=14.0
What is pH?

pH   LogH 3O 
Basic


pH=7.0 Neutral
pH   Log H  

Acidic

pH=1.0
What are some of the ways to
measure pH?
1. Using an acid-base indicator
2. Using pH paper
3. Using pH meter
4. ……………..
 What are acid-base indicators?
How do they work?
An organic dye, whose color depends on the
concentration of H3O+ or pH

HIn(aq) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) + In-(aq)

acid conjugate conjugate
base acid base
When the indicator is added to the solution of interest,
depending on the pH of the solution, the indicator stays
in either its acid form or its conjugate form.
Indicator "Acidic" Color "Basic" color
(MO)methyl orange Red below pH 4.0 Yellow above pH 4.4
(BG)bromcresol green Yellow below pH 4.5 Blue above pH 4.8
(BB)bromthymol blue Yellow below pH 6.9 Blue above pH 7.3
(TB)thymol blue Yellow below pH 8.0 Blue above pH 8.4
(P)Phenolphthalein Colorless below pH 9.3 Pink above pH 9.7
(AY)alizarin yellow Yellow below pH 10.8 Red above pH 11.2

Indicators cannot give a particular numerical value for pH.

They can only give a range for the pH of the solution.

If we are to pick a suitable indicator for

following the pH change in the reaction,
We have to pick one that is suitable over
the pH range of the reaction.
 Ionization of acids
All acids undergo ionization. Strong acids ionize
more than the weak ones. Strong acids are almost
100% ionized. Since the weak acids are partially
ionized, the measure of the extent of ionization is
given by an expression called acid ionization
constant, Ka.

In our experiment today, we would like to measure

the Ka for a weak monoprotic acid.
 What is a monoprotic acid?
Usually acids have one or more hydrogen atoms (H)
which they end up donating as protons (H+).

# of H atoms Name Example

1 monoprotic acid (HA) HCl – hydrochloric acid
CH3COOH - acetic acid
2 diprotic acid (H2A) H2SO4 – sulfuric acid

3 triprotic acid (H3A) H3PO4 – Phosphoric acid

 Ionization constant of an acid
For a monoprotic weak acid (HA) dissolved in water,

HA(aq) + H2O(l) H3O+(aq) + A-(aq)

acid conjugate conjugate
base acid base
H O  A   

K eq  3 eqb eqb

HA H O eqb 2 eqb

Since H 2Oeqb  H 2Oinitial , we will assume that H 2Oeqb  c

H O  A   

K eq  3 eqb eqb

HA c eqb
Ionization constant of an acid
H O  A   

K eq  3 eqb eqb

HA c eqb

H O  A   

K a  K eq  c  3 eqb eqb

HA eqb

H O  A   

Ka  3 eqb eqb

HA eqb

Ionization constant of the acid

 Ionization constant of an acid
H O  A   

Ka  3 eqb eqb

HA eqb

Taking log of the equation on both sides,

H O  A   

LogKa  Log 3 eqb eqb

HA eqb

Since Log
(ab)  b
can be written as Log (a)  Log  
c c
 [A ] 


LogKa  Log H 3O   Log 



 [ HA] 
Ionization constant of an acid
 [A ]  

LogKa  Log H 3O   Log 



 [ HA] 
Multiplying both sides of the equation by -1
 
]
 LogKa   Log H 3O   Log 
[ A



 [ HA] 
but, LogKa  pK and  LogH O   pH
a 3


 [A ] 


pK a  pH  Log  
 [ HA] 
 Ionization constant of an acid
 [ A ] 
pK a  pH  Log  
 [ HA] 
 [A ] 


pH  pK a  Log  
 [ HA] 

Henderson-Hasselbach equation
In the above equation, if we can make the [A-] = [HA]
 [ HA] 
pH  pK a  Log  
 [ HA] 
Ionization constant of an acid
 [ HA] 
pH  pK a  Log  
 [ HA] 

pH  pKa  Log (1)

pH  pKa  0

pH  pKa
 Vinitial Vfinal- Vinitial =Vused

0.2 M Add Vused amount of

NaOH water to the solution in
Vfinal the volumetric flask

100mL
Mix the solution in
volumetric flask to the
1.0 g of HA
Solution in the erlenmeyer
In 100mL of flask
water
250mL
Measure the pH of the
250mL
final solution with
50 mL of HA indicators and pH paper
+ 2 drops phenolphthalein