Acid-Base

Chemistry
 General properties
ACIDS BASES
• Taste sour but not safe to taste • Taste bitter but not safe to taste

• Turn litmus • Turn litmus

• React with active metals
– Fe, Zn to produce
hydrogen gas
• Feel soapy or
slippery (react with
fats to make soap)
• React with acids to
form salt and water

• React with bases to

form salt and water
blue to red red to blue
 Definitions
• Acids – produce H+
Arrhenius
only in water • Bases - produce OH-

• Acids – donate H+
Bronsted-Lowry
• Bases – accept H+
any solvent

• Acids – accept e- pair

Lewis
• Bases – donate e- pair
used in organic chemistry,
wider range of substances
Arrhenius Theory (Svante
August)
Upon dissociation w/ water,
acids yield hydrogen ions (H+) or
hydronium ions (H3O+)
Bases yield hydroxide ions (OH-)
(Johannes Bronsted and Thomas
Lowry)
 Neutralization
In general: Acid + Base  Salt + Water

All neutralization reactions are double displacement reactions.

HCl + NaOH  NaCl + HOH

HCl + Mg(OH)2 

H2SO4 + NaHCO3 
 pH
0-14 scale for the chemists

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

acidic neutral @ 25oC basic or alkaline

(H+) > (OH-) (H+) = (OH-) (H+) < (OH-)
distilled water

fish populations natural

drop off pH < 6 waters pH =
and to zero pH < 5 6.5 - 8.5
 pH
The biological view in the human body

acidic basic/alkaline
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Tortora & Grabowski, Prin. of Anatomy & Physiology, 10th ed., Wiley (2003)
pH- negative log base 10
of the hydrogen ion
concentration
pH= -log [H ]
+

pOH= -log [OH ]-

pH + pOH =14
1) Find the pH
& poH of a
0.001 M HCl
solutionpH=3 pOH=11
2) If the[OH ]
-

is equal to
0.00001 M,
find the ph.
pH=9 pOH=-5
3) The pH of
rainwater in a
locality is 4.
What is the [H ]?
+
1×10-4 M
4) A solution has a
H concentration
+

equal to 5.5 x 10-8

M. What is the pH
of the solution?
pH=7.3
5) What is the pH
of a solution
having a [OH ] of
-

2.2 x 10 M?
-4
10.34
6) What is the
[H ] of a
+

solution w. pH
of 4.2? 6.31 x10-5 M
7) What is the
calculated pH of a
sodium hydroxide
solution at 25 degrees
C in which the
hydroxide ion equals
0.0026 M?
11.41
Find the values of H+
a) 2.90 (lemon juice) 1.26×10-3 M
b) 3.85 (saverkraut) 1.41×10-4 M
c) 10.81 (milk of magnesia) 1.55×10-11 M
d) 4.11 (orange juice) 7.76 ×10-5 M
e) 11.61 (household ammonia) 2.45×10-12 M
 Buffer Solution

A solution that maintains

a nearly constant pH
when a small amount of
acid or base is added to
it.
Amphiprotic or Amphoteric

A substance
that can be
either as acid
or base
Problem
Set
Complete the values for pH, pOH, H+
and OH- in these given data.

SET A SET B
•pH=2.36 • pH=13.65
Set A Set B

pOH = 11.64 pOH = 0.35

H+ = 4.37x10-3 M H+ = 2.24x10-14 M

OH- = 2.29x10-12 M OH- = 4.47x10-1 M