Lesson 2: Acid-Base Reactions

Abrar Chowdhury
December 2023

Syllabus Points to Cover:

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• Explore the changes in definitions and models of an acid over time to

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explain the limitations of each model, including but not limited to:
– Arrhenius’ Theory
– Bronsted-Lowry Theory

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• Conduct a practical investigation to measure the pH of a range of acids
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and bases
• Calculate pH, pOH, hydrogen ion concentration ([H+ ]) and hydroxide ion
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concentration ([OH – ]) for a range of solutions.

• Conduct an investigation to demonstrate the use of pH to indicate the
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differences between the strength of acids and bases.

• Write ionic equations to represent the disassociation of acids and bases in
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water, conjugate acid/base pairs in solution and the amphiprotic nature

of some salts including:
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– Sodium hydrogen carbonate

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– Potassium dihydrogen carbonate

• Construct models and/or animations to communicate differences between
strong, weak, concentrated and dilute acids and bases.
• Calculate the pH of the resultant solution when solutions of acids and/or
bases are mixed.

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Chemistry Intensive Course Notes Abrar Chowdhury

Definitions of Acids and Bases over Time

Acids and bases have been defined differently over the years by different models.
Each model tries to account for the behaviour of the broadest range of acids
and bases as possible. Each of model has its own advantages and limitations,
the latter of which have been overcome by succeeding models that solve them.
These include, but are not limited to those proposed by:

Robert Boyle (1661)

• He merely described properties of acids, giving no reason for said proper-
ties with regard to the structure or operation of these ’acidic’ substances.
• These properties include that:

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– Acids taste sour, alkalis taste bitter.
– Acids are corrosive.

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– Acids and bases neutralise and become neither acidic nor basic after
mixing.
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Limitations:
• No explanation for the properties of these acids.
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• Does not account for a significant enough range of acids.

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Antoine Lavoisier (1776)

• Non-metal oxides produce acids when dissolved in water.
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• Common acids are oxides of carbon, sulfur and phosphorous.

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Limitations:
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• No explanation for why oxides, specifically dissolved to form acids.

• Could not account for the acidic behaviour of substances containing H
such as HCl or H2 SO4 .

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Humphry Davy (1815)

• Acids contain replaceable hydrogen (called an acidic hydrogen atom) that
can be totally/partially replaced by a metal.
• He described two common general reactions that acids undergo with met-
als and bases:
– acid + metal −−→ salt + hydrogen gas
– acid + base −−→ salt + water

Limitations:
• Does not explain the operation or role of the H atoms in making the acid

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’acidic’.

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• Has no means of independently classifying bases. That is, an acid has
to be identified before a base can be identified. This is because, in this

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model, a base is merely a substance that neutralises an acid upon mixing.

Svante Arrhenius (1884)

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• Acids are hydrogen-containing compounds that ionise into H+ ions
in solution.
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• Bases are hydroxide-containing compounds that ionise into OH –

ions in solution.
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• When an acid neutralises a base in solution, the H+ and OH – ions they

ionise into, respectively, react in the net ionic :
H+ + OH – −−→ H2 O to form water (H2 O).
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• The strength of an acid or base is given by the extent to which they ionise
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into either H+ or OH – ions, respectively.

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• This model quantitatively determines the strength of an acid via its

degree of ionisation (calculations will be shown below ).

Note: Although we will eventually cover that Ka or Kb is the correct

measure of an acid or base’s strength - in the Arrhenius model,
specifically, it is only given by the degree of ionisation.

Limitations:
• Cannot account for the role of water as an ionising solvent.
• Does not explain the basic behaviour of substances like ammonia, that do
not contain hydroxide ions in their formula, and hence should not be able
to disassociate into OH – ions in solution.

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• Cannot explain why solutions, after neutralisation reactions between a

strong bases and weak acid (or vice versa) are either basic or acidic.
• Cannot account for neutralisation reactions that occur out of water (i.e.
in a non-aqueous environment) such as the common reaction between:

HCl(g) + NH3(g) −−→ NH4 Cl(s)

Brønsted-Lowry (1923)
• Acids are proton donors and bases are proton acceptors.
• When acids dissolve in water, they donate a proton (i.e. a H+ ion) to H2 O
to form the hydronium H3 O+ ion.

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– This gives water a role as an ionising solvent as it ionises acids and
bases that dissolve in it.
• Every Brønsted-Lowry acid (proton donor) has a conjugate base (proton

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acceptor). Similarly, every Brønsted-Lowry base has a conjugate acid.
• Amphiprotic substances are those that can act as both an acid and base
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in solution, for example HSO4 – as:
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HSO4 − + H2 O ←−→ SO4 2− + H3 O+
HSO4 − + H2 O ←−→ H2 SO4 + OH−
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H2 O, H2 PO4 – and HPO4 2 – are other common amphiprotic species that

appear in exam questions.
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• Describes the strength of the conjugate bases/acids of acids/bases.

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– The conjugate base of a strong acid is extremely weak and thus

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ionises to a negligible extent in solution. Similarly, the conjugate

acid of a strong base is extremely weak and thus ionises to a
negligible extent in solution.
– The conjugate base of a weak acid is weak in strength and thus
ionises partially in solution. Similarly, the conjugate acid of a weak
base is weak in strength and thus ionises partially in solution.

Advantages (over Arrhenius theory):

• Explains the role of water as an ionising solvent.
• Can account for neutralisation reactions in non-aqueous environments
(e.g. HCl(g) + NH3(g) −−→ NH4 Cl(s) ) by describing it as a proton transfer
that results in Cl – and NH4 + ions that ionically bond to form the white
solid NH4 Cl.

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• Can account for the acidity/basicity of salts after a neutralisation reaction.

• Can account for the basicity of substances like ammonia that are basic
because they act as proton acceptors, ’accepting’ H+ ions from Brønsted-
Lowry acids.
Limitations:
• Cannot account for neutralisation reactions between acidic and basic ox-
ides like SO3g and CaOs which take place, even in the absence of a proton
transfer:

SO3(g) + CaO(s) −−→ CaSO4(s)

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• Cannot account for why highly charged metal cations like Al3+ behave
like acids and increase [H+ ] in solution even though they have no protons

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to donate:

Al3+ 2+ +
(aq) + H2 O(l) −−→ [Al(OH)](aq) + H (aq)

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These limitations can be overcome by the Lewis theory of acids and
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bases that defines acids as electron pair acceptors and bases as
electron pair donors.
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For the purposes of this course, you do not need to know Lewis theory.
However since the syllabus covers models “including but not limited
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to” the models above, I believe that a brief mention of Lewis theory (ex-
actly like what I have written above) when discussing the limitations of
Brønsted-Lowry theory makes your response even more deserving of full
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marks.
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Calculating the pH and pOH of solutions

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The pH and pOH of a solution are both measures of the acidity/basicity of a

solution.
pH = − log10 [H+ ] = − log10 [H3 O+ ]
pOH = − log10 [OH− ]
If you consider the water in any solution, it exists in the following self-ionisation
equilibrium:
−
H2 O(l) + H2 O(l) ←−→ H3 O+
(aq) + OH(aq)

Keq = [H3 O+ ][OH− ] = 1 × 1014 at 25°C

By taking the negative logarithm of both sides of the equation, we get:

− log10 (1 × 1014 ) = − log10 [H3 O+ ][OH− ] = (− log10 [H3 O+ ]) + (− log10 [OH− ])

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pH + pOH = 14
Thus, we get the result pH + pOH = 14 which is very handy in calculation ques-
tions of higher difficulty. Another common measure of a weak acid’s strength is
its “degree of ionisation”. If you have an acid HA that exists in the following
ionisation equilibrium:

HA(aq) + H2 O(l) ←−→ A− +

(aq) + H3 O(aq)

Then the degree of ionisation of HA is given by:

[H3 O+ ]
degree of ionisation = × 100%
[HA]

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An Important Note about Significant Figures

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Typically when answering calculation questions, you leave your final answer
with the number of significant figures that the number in the question with

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the least significant figures has. Since pH and pKa are both logarithms, you
apply the same rule but instead of, say for example two significant figures, it is
two decimal places instead.
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Evaluating Degree of Ionisation as a suitable measure of
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Acidity/Basicity
Q: Describe qualitatively what will happen to both the degree of ionisation
and the pH of a 1L solution of 0.1M HF if 100mL of water is added to it (i.e.
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it is diluted)?

A: Both the pH and degree of ionisation of the HF weak acid

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solution will increase.

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Explanation: Since HF is a weak acid, it exists in the following ionisation

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equilibrium in solution:

HF(aq) + H2 O(l) ←−→ F− +

(aq) + H3 O(aq) (1)

When water is added to solution, [H2 O] increases. As per LeChatelier’s Prin-

ciple, the forward reaction will be favoured to deplete the excess H2 O (i.e. the
original disturbance) and equilibrium (1) will shift to right. Thus [H3 O+ ] will
increase. However, since LeChatelier’s Principle only minimises the change
and doesn’t completely reverse the effect of adding H2 O to solution. Thus, on
net, [H3 O+ ] will decrease. Since pH = − log10 [H3 O+ ], pH will increase as
[H3 O+ ] will decrease on net. Thus pH will increase.

Since, equilibrium (1) shifts to the right, [H3 O+ ] increases and [HF] decreases
(note that, on net, [HF] will decrease as it was not the original disturbance).
Since [H3 O+ ] increases and [HF] decreases, the degree of ionisation given by

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[H3 O+ ]
[HF] × 100% increases. Thus the degree of ionisation also increases. Thus,
the degree of ionisation is a measure of a substance’s acidity/basicity but not
necessarily a good one.

Neutralisation Reactions: pH of Salt Solutions

Arrhenius theory expects that the salt of a neutralisation reaction dissolves to
make a neutral solution. However, Brønsted-Lowry theory can account for why
the salt solution resulting from a neutralisation reaction is either weakly acidic
or basic including those that result from a neutralisation reaction between:

Strong Base and Weak Acids: Basic Salt Solution (pH>7)

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Q: Explain why the salt solution formed when the strong base NaOH and weak
acid CH3 COOH reacts is basic.

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When NaOH and CH3 COOH reacts, it forms a CH3 COONa(aq) salt solution:

NaOH(aq) + CH3 COOH(aq) ←−→ CH3 COONa(aq) + H2 O(l)

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In solution, the CH3 COONa(aq) salt dissolves into its substituent ions:
–
CH3 COONa(aq) −−→ CH3 COO(aq) + Na+ +
(aq) . As Na is the conjugate acid of a
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strong base (NaOH), it is extremely weak in strength and thus ionises H3 O+

in solution to a negligible extent. As CH3 COO – is the conjugate base of a
weak acid (CH3 COOH), it is weak in strength and thus partially ionises in
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solution to form OH – ions (CH3 COO(aq)

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+ H2 O(l) ←−→ CH3 COOHaq + OHaq –
).
Thus, the salt solution of this neutralisation reaction between a strong base
(NaOH) and weak acid (CH3 COOH) will, on net, have an excess of OH – ions
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and will be slightly basic and have a pH > 7.

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Strong Acid and Weak Bases: Acidic Salt Solution (pH<7)

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Q: Explain why the salt solution formed when the strong acid HCl and weak
base NH3 reacts is acidic.

When HCl and Na2 SO4 solutions (not gases - you MUST specify this in
responses) are added together, they react as such:

HCl(aq) + NH3(aq) −−→ NH4 Cl(s)

In solution, the white NH4 Cl(s) dissolves into:

NH4 Cl(s) −−→ NH4 + (aq) + Cl – (aq). As Cl – is the conjugate base of a strong
acid (HCl) it is extremely weak in strength and ionises into OH – in solution
to a negligible extent. As NH4 + is the conjugate acid of a weak base (NH3 )
it is weak in strength and partially ionises in solution to form H3 O+ ions
(NH4 + (aq) + H2 O(l) ←−→ NH3(aq) + H3 O(aq) + ). Thus, the salt solution of this

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neutralisation reaction between a strong acid (HCl) and a weak base (NH3 ) will,
on net, have an excess of H3 O+ ions and will be slightly acidic and have a pH < 7.

Note: This is different from the well-known non-aqueous neutralisation reac-

tion HCl(g) + NH3(g) −−→ NH4 Cl(s) as the white solid formed does not dissolve
in solution and thus its substituent ions cannot ionise to form either H3 O+ or
OH – . So when answering a question like this, you should specify that they are
reacting in an aqueous environment so that the resulting white, solid salt
can dissolve in solution to form an acidic salt solution.

Strong Acid and Strong Base: Neutral Salt Solution (pH=7)

Q: Explain why the salt solution formed when the strong acid HCl and strong

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base NaOH reacts is neutral.

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When HCl and NaOH solutions are added together, they react as such:

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HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) −−→ NaCl(aq) + H2 O(l)

In solution, the NaCl dissolves into NaCl(aq) −−→ Na++ – ++

(aq) + Cl(aq) . As Na (aq)
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+
is the conjugate acid of a strong base it ionises H3 O in solution to a negli-
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gible extent. As Cl(aq) is the conjugate base of a strong acid it ionises OH –
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in solution to a negligible extent. As neither of the substituent ions of the
NaCl salt in solution ionise, there is no excess of H+ or OH – , this means that
the salt solution formed by a neutralisation reaction between a strong acid and
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strong base is neutral (pH=7).

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End of Lesson Notes

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