Brønsted-Lowry Acid/Base Theory

According to the Brønsted-Lowry acid/base theory, the acid

should protonate the water to form hydronium and the conjugate
base, A-. There will be an equilibrium between the acid and water,
and hydronium and the conjugate base.

Acid Dissociation Constant

Like all equilibria, an acid/base dissociation will have a
particular equilibrium constant which will determine the extent of
the reaction (whether it lies to the left or right of the
equation). As the equilibrium constant approaches zero, the
reaction tends to form 100% reactants. As the equilibrium constant
approaches infinity, the reaction tends to form 100% products. The
equilibrium constant K=1 states that there will be 50% products
and 50% reactants
Because the equilibrium is used for calculating the concentrations
of weak acids, very little water actually reacts. The concentration
of water during the reaction is, therefore, a constant, and can be
excluded from the expression for K. This gives rise to a special
equilibrium constant, Ka, known as the acid dissociation constant.
It is simply K multiplied by the concentration of water.

The Ka of a weak acid determines how acidic it is, i.e., how far
its equilibrium lies to the right. The Ka values of weak acids can
and have been determined experimentally.

Base Dissociation Constant

A similar equilibrium exists when a weak base is dissolved in
water. The base will accept a proton from water and form a
conjugate acid, BH+.

This equilibrium has its own special constant, Kb, known as

the base dissociation constant. Like the acid dissociation
constant, it is defined as the equilibrium constant multiplied by
the concentration of water.
 Ion Product Constant
A special equilibrium exists between ordinary water molecules.
Occasionally, one water molecule will act as an acid, and donate
a proton to another water molecule (which acts as a base). This is
the auto-ionization of water.

By the Le Chatelier Principle, we can see that if the hydronium

ion concentration is increased (by adding an acid), the equilibrium
will move to the left and there will be a lower concentration of
hydroxide. Thus, hydronium and hydroxide concentration are
inversely related—an increase in one will result in a decrease in
the other, and vice versa.
The equilibrium expression for this reaction is given a special
name, Kw. Because it simplifies to the product of hydronium and
hydroxide concentration, it is sometimes called the ion
product constant. The value of this constant is 1.0 × 10-14 at 25°C.

This expression can be used to find the pH of pure water. Recall

that pH is the negative logarithm of hydronium ion concentration.
If we set the hydronium ion concentration in the above expression
to be , we can derive the pH. The hydroxide ion concentration must
also be (since each molecule of hydroxide is a result of a
molecule of hydronium forming).

Conjugate Base Expressions

The conjugate bases of weak acids have a relationship with their
parent acids. Consider the equilibrium expression of the conjugate
base, A-, of the weak acid HA.
If we multiply the expression for an acid by the expression for
its conjugate base, the concentrations of the acid and conjugate
base cancel and we obtain the ion product constant for water! This
allows us to calculate the Kb of a base if the Ka of its conjugate
acid is known (and vice versa).

The definitions of the acid and base dissociation constants are

very important. They are presented here for reference.
 The acid dissociation constant measures the strength of
an acid dissolved in water.
 The base dissociation constant measures the strength of
a base dissolved in water.
 The ion product constant relates the concentrations of
acids/bases and their conjugates in a solution.