Acids, Bases, pH and pOH

They are everywhere..

In your food
In your house
EVEN IN YOU!!!!!
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 I Can …
 Explain the pH scale in terms of
hydrogen ion concentration
 Explain the pH scale in terms of
hydroxide ion concentration
 Explain the pH scale in terms of acidity
 Explain the pH scale in terms of basicity

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 An acid is…

 An aqueous solution that has H+ ions.

 The more H+ ions, the more acidic
the solution.
 Examples of acids: HCl (H+ and Cl-),
HNO3 (H+ and NO3-)

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 Properties of an Acid

 Tastes Sour
 Corrosive
 Turns blue
litmus paper red

Picture from BBC Revision Bites

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/chemistry/acids_b
ases_1.shtml
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 Some Common Acids
 Vinegar
 Citrus fruits (lemons,
limes, & oranges
 Ascorbic acid =
Vitamin C which your
body needs to
function.
 Car batteries

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 A Base is ..
 An aqueous solution
that has OH- ions.
 Base = alkaline
 Examples of Bases:
NaOH (Na+ and OH-),
Ca(OH)2 (Ca+2 and
OH-)

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 Properties of Bases

 Feel Slippery
 Taste Bitter
 Corrosive
 Turns red litmus
paper blue.

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 General properties
ACIDS
 Taste sour
 Turn litmus BASES
 React
Tastewith active
bitter
 metals – Fe, Zn
Turn litmus
 Feel soapy or slippery (react with fats to
make soap)
 React with acids
 React with bases

blue to red red to blue

 Definitions
 Acids – produce H+
Arrehenius  Bases - produce OH-
only in water
 Acids – donate H+
 Bases – accept H+
Bronsted-Lowry
any solvent  Acids – accept e- pair
 Bases – donate e- pair

Lewis
used in organic chemistry,
wider range of substances
 The hydrogen ion in aqueous solution
H+ + H2O  H3O+ (hydronium ion)

Examples
Arrhenius HCl NaOH

Bronsted-Lowry HCl HCN NH3

Lewis BF3 :NH3

The Bronsted-Lowry Concept
Conjugate pairs

HCl Cl- CH3COOH CH3COO-

NH4+ NH3 HNO3 NO3-

How does a conjugate pair differ?

H+ transfer
Does pure water conduct electrical current?
Water is a very, very, very weak electrolyte.

H2O  H+ + OH-
How are (H+) and (OH-) related?
(H+)(OH-) = 10-14

For pure water: (H+) = (OH-) = 10-7M

This is neutrality and
at 25oC is a pH = 7.
water
 Let’s examine the behavior of
an acid, HA, in aqueous solution.

HA

What happens to the HA molecules in solution?

 100% dissociation of HA

HA

H+
Strong Acid
A-
Would the
solution be
conductive?
 Partial dissociation of HA

HA

H+
Weak Acid
A-
Would the
solution be
conductive?
 HA  H+ + A-

HA

H+
Weak Acid
A- At any one
time, only a
fraction of
the molecules
are
dissociated.
 Strong and Weak Acids/Bases
Strong acids/bases – 100% dissociation into ions

HCl NaOH
HNO3 KOH
H2SO4
Weak acids/bases – partial dissociation,
both ions and molecules

CH3COOH NH3
acid rain (NOx, SOx)
pH of 4.2 - 4.4 in
Washington DC area 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

normal rain (CO2) fish populations natural

pH = 5.3 – 5.7 drop off pH < 6 waters pH =
and to zero pH < 5 6.5 - 8.5
 pH of Rainwater
across United States in 2001

You
are
here!

Increasing acidity
Why is the eastern US more acidic?
http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/isopleths
 What is acid rain?
Dissolved carbon dioxide lowers the pH
CO2 (g) + H2O  H2CO3  H+ + HCO3-

Atmospheric pollutants from combustion

NO, NO2 + H2O …  HNO3 both

strong
SO2, SO3 + H2O …  H2SO4 acids
pH < 5.3
Behavior of oxides in water– Group A
1A basic amphoteric acidic 8A

2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A

Group B

105 107
Db Bh

basic: Na2O + H2O  2NaOH

(O-2 + H2O  2OH-)
acidic: CO2 + H2O  H2CO3
 When life goes either way
amphoteric (amphiprotic) substances

Acting like HCO3- Acting like

a base an acid
+ H + - H+

H2CO3 CO3-2
accepts H+ donates H+
 pH
The biological view in the human body
acidic basic/alkaline
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

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Tortora & Grabowski, Prin. of Anatomy & Physiology, 10th ed., Wiley (2003)
 Does the pH influence the
activity of an enzyme?

Trypsin is a digestive enzyme. Where?

Intestinal pH range 7.0-8.5
 The amino acid glycine - amphoteric
It’s an acid and a base!

Gain of H+ Loss of H+

H3N+-CH2-COOH H2N-CH2-COO-
H2N-CH2-COOH
Chime structure
The amino acid glycine - Zwitterion formation

Transfer of H+ from carboxylic

acid group to amine group.

-
+
A dipolar
ion forms.
H2N-CH2-COOH
Chime structure
H3N+-CH2-COO-
intramolecular acid-base reaction
 pH Scale
 pH is a measure of how acidic
or basic a solution is.
Ranges from 0 to 14.
 Acidic solutions - pH below 7
 pH of 7 is neutral.
Pure water has a pH of
7
Basic solutions - pH above 7.

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 pH Scale
• A change of 1 pH unit
represents a tenfold
(x10) change in the
acidity of the solution.
• Tomato – pH 4
• Lemon - pH 2
• Lemons are 100 times
more acidic than
tomatoes

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 Acid – Base Reactions

 A reaction
between an acid
and a base is
called
neutralization.

 The result of a
“perfect”
neutralization
reaction is a
solution with a pH
of 7
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 Acid – Base reactions
HCl + NaOH  NaCl + H2O

o The products of an acid base

reaction are a salt and water

o This is a type of double replacement

reaction

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 ACID NOMENCLATURE
Anion
Ending Acid Name
No Oxygen -ide hydro-(stem)-ic acid
In acid
-ate (stem)-ic acid
w/Oxygen
-ite (stem)-ous acid
An easy way to remember which goes with which…
“You ATE something ICky, and you bITE something
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deliciOUS”
 EXAMPLES: MEMORIZE
THESE FOUR ACIDS – NAMES
AND CHEMICAL FORMULAS
• HCl hydrochloric acid
• H2SO4 sulfuric
• HNO3 nitric
• H3PO4 phosphoric

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33
•For simplicity you will use
3 significant figures for
pH, pOH, [H+] and [OH-]
calculations

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 CALCULATING THE PH OR
POH
pH = - log [H+]
pOH = - log [OH-]
(The brackets [ ] mean concentration or
Molarity)
Example: If [H+] = 1.00 X 10-10 M, what is the pH?
pH = - log (1 X 10-10)
pH = 10.0
Example: If [OH-] = 1.80 X 10-5 M ,what is the
pOH?
pOH = - log 1.80 X 10-5 35

pOH = 4.74
 PH = - LOG [H+]
Find the pH of these:
1) [H+] = 1.25 x 10-3 M
a. pH = 2.90
2) A 0.15 M solution of
hydrochloric acid (acids have H+
ion)
b. pH = 0.824
3) A 3.00 X 10-7 M solution of
nitric acid
 POH = - LOG [OH-]
Find the pOH of these:
1) [OH-] = 2.15 x 10-3
a. pOH = 2.67
2) A 0.350 M solution of
NaOH (bases have OH- ion)
b. pOH = 0.456
3) A 3.00 X 10-7 M solution
of potassium hydroxide
c. pOH = 6.52
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CALCULATING THE POH OR PH
WHEN YOU KNOW THE OTHER ONE
• Since acids and bases are
opposites, pH and pOH are
opposites!

If pH = 1, then pOH = 13

Since pH and pOH are on

opposite ends, 38

pH + pOH = 14
 PH
P H AND POH
AND P OH CALCULATIONS
CALCULATIONS
SOLVING
SOLVING FOR
FOR [H
[H++]] AND
AND [OH
[OH--]]

If the pH of Coke is 3.12,

[H+] = ???
Because pH = - log [H+] then
[H+] = antilog-pH
[H+] = 10-pH
[H+] = 10-3.12 = 7.59 x 10-4 M 39
 POH CALCULATIONS –
SOLVING FOR [OH-]

If the pOH of soap is 8.9,

what is the [OH-]?
[OH-] = 10-pOH
[OH-] = 10-8.9 =
1.26 x 10-9

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 [H+], [OH-] AND KW
We can also use Kw (water
constant)
Kw = 1 x 10-14
Kw = [H+] [OH-] , so

[H+] [OH-] = 1 x 10-14

What is the [H+] of a solution that
has an [OH-] = 4.20 x 10-5 ?
2.38 x 10-10 41
Chapter 19 Acids and Bases Equation sheet - use this during exam

 [H+] to pH (-), then log, then number

 [OH-] to pOH Same as above
 pH to pOH or pOH to pH pH + pOH = 14
 pH to [H+] 2nd, then log, then (-), then number
 pOH to [OH-] Same as above
 [H+] to [OH-] or [OH-] to [H+] [H+] [OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14

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Examples:
1. What is the pH of a 1.70 x 10-5 M solution of
HCl?
a. pH = 4.77

2. What is the pOH of a .0320M solution of NaOH?

a. pH = 1.49

3. A solution has a pH of 6.40, what is the [H+]?

b. 3.98 x 10-7 M

4. What is the pOH of a solution with a pH of 4.50?

a. pH = 9.50

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5. What is the [H+] of a 1.6 x 10-9 M
solution of NaOH?
[OH-] = 1.6 x 10-9 M
1.0 x 10-14
1.6 x 10-9 = [H+] = 6.3 x 10-6 M

6. What is the [H+], [OH-], and pOH

of a solution with pH = 3.67?
pOH = 10.33
[H+] = 2.14 x 10-4 M 44

[OH-] = 4.68 x 10-11 M

 PH TESTING
• There are several ways to
test pH
• Blue litmus paper (red =
acid)
• Red litmus paper (blue =
basic)
• pH paper (multi-colored)
• pH meter (7 is neutral, <7
acid, >7 base)
• Indicators like
phenolphthalein – we will 45

use this
ACID-BASE
ACID-BASE TITRATIONS
TITRATIONS
REACTIONS
REACTIONS
HCl (aq) + NaOH (aq)  NaCl (aq) + H2O (l)

acid base
We can carry out this neutralization
reaction using TITRATION.
This will allow us to determine the
unknown concentration of an acid
or base ([H+] or [OH-]) 46
 ACID-BASE
ACID-BASE
REACTIONS
REACTIONS
TITRATIONS
TITRATIONS

At the end of a titration

reaction
Moles of acid = moles of base
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 Titration is used to determine the
Concentration of OH- (or H+) ion in
the solution being analyzed

Titrati
on
video
3:15
min

48
 TITRATION CALCULATIONS

•For titrations using HCl and

NaOH, we can simply use the
dilution formula to do our
calculations (because there is one
H+ for every one OH-)
M1V1 = M2V2
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 TITRATION CALCULATIONS
Example: Determine the volume of .
0100M NaOH needed to titrate
20.0mL of 0.400M HCl?

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 TITRATION CALCULATIONS
Example: What is the concentration of
HCl if 34.5 mL of .0500M NaOH is
required to titrate 50.0mL of the HCl
solution?

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