(Basic)

Acids, base & pH

Lemon Juice Soap water

• Taste
• Slipperiness

Acid Base?
?

Ancient Greek method

Arrhenius acids and bases theory
Swedish Svante Arrhenius, in 1884 proposed the concept of acid and
base based on the theory of electrolyte.

(An electrolyte is a substance that produces an electrically conducting solution

when dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water.)

In other words, he suggested classifying certain compounds as acids or bases based

on…
“what kind of ions formed when the compound was added to
water?”

water
Arrhenius acids
+1 -1
Acids are the hydrogen-containing
compounds which give H+ ions or 
protons on dissociation in water.
HCl H2O H3O+ Cl-
Hydrogen chloride water Hydronium ion Chloride ion
(an Arrhenius acid)

HCl, HBr, HI, HNO3, H2SO4,

HCl(aq) + H2O(l)  H3O+(aq) + Cl- (More accurate) HCIO4, etc.
Strong acid
(aq)
HCl(aq)  H+ (aq) + Cl-(aq)(Shorter and easier to write)
CH3COOH(aq) + H2O(l)  H3O+(aq) + CH3COO-(aq) Weak acid
Arrhenius bases
Bases are the hydroxide
compounds which give OH− ions
on dissociation in water.

NaOH(aq)  Na+(aq) + OH- Strong base

(aq)
pH, pOH, and the pH scale

Typical concentrations of H+/OH- ions in solution can be very small, and they also span a wide
range.

Foe example

1.0 x 10-1 M
= 1.0 x 106
1.0 x 10 M
-7

Pure water at 25 °C Stomach acid (HCl)

[H+]= 1.0 x 10-7 M [H+]= 1.0 x 10-1 M
pH & pOH
USE logarithmic
function
[H+] = 1.0 x 10-7 = 0.0000001 ay = x
log100.0000001 = -7 logax = y
log101.0X 10-7 = -7
-(log101.0X10-7) = -(-7) = 7 ---- pH

pH = -log[H+] pH + pOH = pOH =

(power of hydrogen) 14 -log[OH-]
Pure water dissociation equilibrium
constant (Kw) at 25 °C
(Kw) = [H+][OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14 = (1.0 x 10-7)(1.0 x 10-
7
)
Only valid at 25 °C
the pH scale
Acidic Neutral Basic

0
pH scale

why ph 7 is neutral?

(Kw) = [H+][OH-] = 1.0 x 10-14

= (1.0 x 10-7)(1.0 x 10-7)
Only
at
pH = 7 Acidic or Basic?  Neutral valid
pOH = 7 25 °C
 Ca CO SO
O 2 2
Calcium oxide Carbon dioxide Sulphur dioxide

Can you explain acidic and basic nature of these chemical compound using Arrhenius definition?

You can’t!

Limitations of Arrhenius theory

• It fails to explain the acidic and basic nature of the chemical compound which do not
contain any hydrogen or hydroxyl group.
• It can only describe acid-base chemistry in aqueous solutions.
Brønsted-Lowry acids and bases theory
It also called proton theory of acids and bases, a theory, introduced
in 1923 by the Danish chemist Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and the
English chemist Thomas Martin Lowry.

They describe acid-base interactions in terms of proton (H+) transfer

between chemical species.

Acid is any species that can donate a proton.

Base is any species that can accept a proton.

 Explain acid-base reactions in any solvent.

 Explain acid-base reactions that occur in the gas phase
Identifying Brønsted-Lowry
acids and bases

NH3(g) + HCl(g)  NH4Cl (s)

ammonia gas hydrogen solid ammonium
chloride gas chloride

Lewis structure

Brønsted- Brønsted-Lowry
Lowry base acid
More example
Acid = accept e-
Base = donate e-
+  H3O+ (aq) + NO3-
Brønsted-Lowry
(aq) Brønsted-
acid Lowry base

+  NH4+(aq) + OH-
Brønsted- Brønsted-Lowry
(aq)
Lowry base acid

Water behave both as an acid and a base. Amphoteric or amphiprotic

compound
Brønsted-Lowry acid must contain a hydrogen that can dissociate as H+.
Brønsted-Lowry base must have at least one lone pair of electrons to form a new bond with
H+ .