Class X

Subject: Chemistry
Chapter 2: Acids, Bases and Salts
Following Notes till Page No: 25 of Science NCERT Book
1. Acids: those substances which turn blue litmus solution red. They are sour in taste and give H+
ions in aqueous solution.
Strong acids: HCl, H2SO4, HNO3
Weak acids: CH3COOH, Oxalic acid, Lactic acid

2. Bases: those substances which change red litmus solution blue. They are bitter in taste and give
OH- ions in aqueous solution.
Strong Bases: NaOH, KOH
Weak bases: NH4OH, Al(OH)3
Soluble bases are called alkalis. eg: NaOH

3. Litmus: it is a purple dye which is extracted from a plant ‘lichen’. It is used as acid base
indicator. It is available as blue or red litmus solution.
a) Litmus
In a neutral solution – purple In acidic solution – red In basic solution – blue
Litmus is also available as strips of paper in two variants – red litmus and blue litmus.
An acid turns a moist blue litmus paper to red.
A base turns a moist red litmus paper to blue.
4. Indicators: those substances which change their colour in different types of substances.
Natural indicators are turmeric, red cabbage leaves, coloured petals of flowers like petunia.

5. Acid Base Indicators: Those substances which change their colour in acid and base are called
acid-base indicators. eg. Litmus solution

6. Synthetic Indicators: those chemical substances which change their colour in acids and bases.
eg. Methyl Orange, Phenolphthalein.
a) Methyl orange
In a neutral solution – orange ; In acidic solution – red ; In basic solution – yellow
b) Phenolphthalein
In a neutral solution – colourless; In acidic solution – remains colourless;
In basic solution – pink

7. Olfactory Indicators: those substances which have different odour in acidic and basic solutions.
eg: vanilla extract, onio
Vanilla extract and onion: retain the smell in acids
smell disappears in bases

Physical Properties of Acids and Bases

Some physical properties of acids: Some physical properties of bases:
1. They are sour. 1.They are bitter
2. They turn blue litmus red. 2.They turn red litmus blue.
3. They are corrosive in nature. 3.They are soapy in nature
Chemical Properties of Acids:
1. Acid + Metal → Salt + Hydrogen gas
e.g., 2HCl + Zn → ZnCl2 + H2

2. Reaction with Metal carbonate

Acid + Metal carbonate → Salt + CO2 + H2O
e.g., 2HCl + Na2CO3 → 2NaCl + CO2 + H2O

3. Reaction with Metal hydrogen carbonate

Acid + Metal hydrogen carbonate → Salt + CO2 + H2O
e.g. HCl + NaHCO3 → NaCl + H2O + CO2

4. Reaction with Metallic oxide

Acid + Metal oxide → Salt + Water
e.g. 2HCl + CuO → CuCl2 + H2O

5. Acids in water:
Acids produce H+ ions when dissolved in water. H+ ions cannot exist alone. They
combine with water molecule (H2O) to form H3O+ (hydronium ions). It conducts
electricity.

Chemical properties of Bases :

1. Reaction with metal
Base + Metal → Salt + H2 gas
e.g., 2NaOH + Zn → Na2ZnO2 + H2
This reaction is possible only with reactive metals like sodium and potassium.
2. Reaction with non-metallic oxide
Base + Non-metallic oxide → Salt + H2O
3. Reaction with Metal carbonate
Base + Metal carbonate → No Reaction
4. Reaction with Metal hydrogen carbonate
Base + Metal hydrogen carbonate → No Reaction
5. Bases in water → Bases produce OH– ions when dissolved in water. Bases soluble in water
are called alkalis. It conducts electricity.

Classification of Acids:
1. Depending upon the source from which they are obtained:

Organic Acid Mineral Acids

Acids present in plant and animals
Generally weak acids
Eg. Citric acid (lemon), lactic acid
(milk), acetic acid (vinegar)
Acids obtained from the minerals of the
earth.
Generally strong acids
Eg. Hydrochloric acid, Sulphuric acid,
Nitric acid

2. Depending upon the strength of acids:

Strong acid Weak acid

Acids that completely dissociates to give Acids that partially dissociates into
hydrogen ions. hydrogen ions
Eg. HCl, H2SO4 , HNO3 H2CO3
3. Depending on the basis of water content:
Concentrated Acid Dilute Acid
Contains large amount of acid and very Contains less amount of acid and large
little amount of water amount of water.

Some Common Acids and their Chemical Formula

Name of the Acid Chemical Formula
Hydrochloric acid HCl
Sulphuric acid H2SO4
Nitric acid HNO3
Acetic acid CH3COOH
Formic acid HCOOH
Carbonic acid H2CO3
Phosphoric acid H3PO4

** Acids dissociates to give H+ ions only in the presence of water. Hence, they act as acid only
in the presence of water.

Dilution of Concentrated Acids – An Exothermic Reaction

Mixing of an acid with water is called dilution. It is observed that when a concentrated acid is
diluted with water, heat is produced. Thus, dilution of an acid in water is an exothermic reaction.

How to dilute a concentrated acid?

As dilution of a concentrated acid is highly exothermic reaction. Hence, to slow down the
exothermic reaction, dilution of a concentrated acid is always done by taking sufficient amount
of water in a beaker and adding concentrated acid into slowly with stirring. Thus, we always
dilute an acid by adding into water and not water into acid.

** On dilution, the concentration of H+(aq) ions per unit volume decreases, Hence,
acidic strength decreases.

Some Common Bases :

Sodium Hydroxide: NaOH (strong base)
Potassium Hydroxide: KOH (strong base)
Calcium Hydroxide: Ca(OH)2 (weak base)
Magnesium Hydroxide: Mg(OH)2 (weak base)

Alkalis: the bases which are soluble in water and give hydroxide ions in the aqueous solution are
called alkalis. Eg: NaOH, KOH
Thus, all alkalis are bases, but all bases are not alkalis.

Neutralization Reaction: a process in which an acid reacts with a base to form salt and
water, i.e.
Acid + Base Salt + Water
Eg. HCl + NaOH NaCl + H2O

Important Points to Remember:

1. Curd and Sour Substances should not be kept in brass and copper vessels as they are acidic in
nature. If kept in copper or brass vessels, they react to form toxic compounds and make the
food stuff unfit for consumption.
 2. HCl, HNO3 etc. ionize in the aqueous solution to produce H+ ions. Hence, they show acidic
character. Compounds like alcohol and glucose do not ionize in the aqueous solution to give
H+ ions. Hence, they do not show acidic character.
3. Dry HCl gas does not ionize to produce H+ ions. Hence, it does not show acidic properties
and, therefore does not change the colour of the dry litmus paper.
4. Pop test: When a burning candle is brought near a test tube containing hydrogen gas it burns
with a ‘Pop’ sound. This test is conducted for examining the presence of hydrogen gas.
5. When an acid or a base is mixed with water, they become dilute. This results in the decrease
in the concentration of per unit volume in acids and bases respectively, i.e. no. of H+ ions and
OH- ions reduces.
6. Rainwater conducts electricity but distilled water does not as distilled water does not contain
any acid, base or salt which may dissociate to produce ions. Hence, it does not conduct
electricity. Rain water contains dissolved gases of the air like carbon dioxide, sulphur
dioxide etc. These gases dissolve in water to form acids. E.g. CO 2 dissolves in H2O form
H2CO3( carbonic acid) which dissociates to give H + (aq) ions and carbonate ions. Hence, it
conducts electricity.

Also refer Given You Tube Links for Online tutorial:

Recapitulation:
** Intext questions of the topics covered to be done neatly in chemistry notebook.