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Add Acid

When mixing strong acids and water, it is safer to add acid to water rather than water to acid. Adding water to acid can cause rapid boiling and splashing due to the exothermic hydration reaction generating a lot of heat. In contrast, adding acid to water allows the water to absorb the heat produced by the reaction and lessen the chance of boiling over. Specifically for sulfuric acid, which reacts very vigorously with water, it is important to add it slowly to water while wearing proper protective equipment under a fume hood due to the large amount of heat generated.

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125 views4 pages

Add Acid

When mixing strong acids and water, it is safer to add acid to water rather than water to acid. Adding water to acid can cause rapid boiling and splashing due to the exothermic hydration reaction generating a lot of heat. In contrast, adding acid to water allows the water to absorb the heat produced by the reaction and lessen the chance of boiling over. Specifically for sulfuric acid, which reacts very vigorously with water, it is important to add it slowly to water while wearing proper protective equipment under a fume hood due to the large amount of heat generated.

Uploaded by

Kathir Kiran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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When you mix 

strong acids and water, it makes a difference whether you add


acid to water or water to acid. Always add acid to water and not the other
way around. If you add a little water to a lot of concentrated acid, the
resulting solution is still concentrated. The hydration reaction uses all the
water (acid is the limiting reactant), generating a lot of heat. The solution
violently boils, spitting concentrated acid out of its container. If you add a little
concentrated acid to a lot of water, water is the limiting reactant and the
resulting solution is more dilute. Here, all the acid reacts, but there is extra
water to absorb the heat, lessening the chance of boiling.

Why Add Acid to Water


There are a few factors that make it better to add acid to water. Diluting acid
with water is exothermic, so it’s easier to boil and splash water added to acid
than acid added to water because water has a high heat capacity and can
absorb a lot of heat. Also, some strong acids have a higher specific gravity
or density than water. So, if you put water on top of acid, the heat that’s
generated is at the acid surface. In this situation, the liquid readily boils and
spits. On the other hand, if you pour acid on top of or into water, the water
rises over the acid before mixing and contains the reaction.

Diluting Sulfuric Acid


Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is the most dangerous common acid to dilute. Partly, this
is because it reacts so violently with skin and clothing. Sulfuric acid quickly
dehydrates proteins and carbohydrates in skin and muscle. The acid is much
heavier than water, so water added to it reacts with the top layer first. A lot of
heat gets generated, even when sulfuric acid and water are mixed properly.
Mixing 100 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid and 100 ml of water at 19 °C
reaches a temperature over 131 °C (well past the boiling point of water) in
under a minute.

It’s the hydration reaction that generates all that heat:

H2SO4 + H2O → H3O+ + HSO4–

Similarly, sulfuric acid readily strips water from organic molecules, dehydrating
them.

Dilution Safety Tips


In general, the higher the concentration the acid, the greater the greater the
heat increase and the higher the chance of boiling and splashing. Be extremely
careful diluting any concentrated strong acid. Always wear proper safety gear
and work under a fume hood.

No matter what acid you’re diluting, remember reaction rates double for every
10 degree Celsius temperature increase. So, if you make a serial dilution of an
acid, the change of boiling or splashing the acid increases because the stock
solution is already hot. There are a couple of ways to avoid this. One is to cool
the stock solution before diluting it. You can rest the container in an ice bath
before making the dilution. Another method is to pour the hot acid solution
over ice made from de-ionized water and then diluting it with room
temperature water to reach the final volume.

Finally, choose your glassware wisely. An Erlenmeyer flask or volumetric flask


is a better choice than a beaker or graduated cylinder because the flask shape
acts as a sort of splash shield (also, graduated cylinders are notoriously
unstable and easy to tip over).

Tips to Remember to Add Acid to Water


Here are some easy mnemonic devices to help you remember to add acid to
water:

 AA: Add Acid


 Acid to Water, like A&W Root Beer
 Drop acid, not water
 If you think your life’s too placid, add the water to the acid
 First the water, then the acid, otherwise it won’t be placid
Diluting Strong Bases
Like strong acids, strong bases react with water in an exothermic reaction.
Also, like the strong acids, strong bases tend to be corrosive and able to cause
chemical and thermal burns on skin. It’s best to add base to water, just like you
would acid.

References

 Bishop, Michael L.; Fody, Edward P.; Schoeff, Larry E. (2004). Clinical


Chemistry: Principles, Procedures, Correlations. Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins. ISBN 0-7817-4611-6.
 Cleapss.org. (2007). Student Safety Sheets – Sulfuric(VI) Acid.
 Pauling, L.C. (1988) General Chemistry. Dover Publications.

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