Acid, Properties of

Acid, and Sources of

Acid
 What is Acid?

Acids are chemical substances which are

characterized by a sour taste in an aqueous
medium. They have the tendency to turn blue
litmus red.
Acids are substances that are either
proton donors or electron-pair acceptors.
They are corrosive, and sour and often
react with bases to form salt and water.
-The word “acid” comes from the Latin
word ‘acere’ which means sour.
 Properties of Acid:
•TASTE–Acids have a sour taste due to the presence of
hydrogen ions, which stimulate the sour taste receptors on our
tongue.
•REACTION WITH METALS – Strong acids can react
vigorously with metals to form hydroxides and release
hydrogen gas. Weak acids may not react at all or only slowly
with metals.
•NEUTRALIZATION –When an acid
reacts with a base, the reaction results in
the formation of a salt and water. This
process is called neutralization because the
reaction produces a neutral solution with a
pH close to 7.
•CONDUCTIVITY– Acidic solutions conduct
electricity well because they contain high
concentrations of free ions (hydrogen and
hydronium ions).
•INDICATORS– Acid-base indicators are
substances that change color when they come into
contact with an acid or base, making it easier to
determine the pH of a solution.
 Sources of Acid:

Fruits and Vegetables: Citrus fruits like

lemons, limes, and oranges contain citric acid;
grapes contain tartaric acid; tomatoes contain
citric and malic acids; etc.
Animal Sources: Vinegar is produced from
fermented ethanol by acetic acid bacteria;
milk contains lactic acid during fermentation.
Mineral Sources: Mineral acids like sulfuric,
nitric, hydrochloric, and phosphoric acids are
derived from minerals through mining and
refining processes.These strong acids
have wide industrial applications in manufacturing
processes like metal production, food processing,
textiles, pharmaceuticals.
Synthetic Sources: Organic acids like succinic
acid, oxalic acid, malonic acid are synthesized
industrially for various applications such as food
additives or intermediates for organic synthesis
reactions.
Bacteria: Some bacteria produce organic
acids as part of their metabolic processes; for
example, lactic acid bacteria produce lactic
acid during fermentation of sugars to make
foods like yogurt and cheese or during
alcoholic fermentation to make vinegar from
ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.
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