Asked by: Jinhua Martinez Abarca
science chemistry

How do you determine if a substance is acidic or basic?

Last Updated: 22nd January, 2020

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To determine whether a substance is an acid orabase, count the hydrogens on each substancebeforeand after the reaction. If the number of hydrogenshasdecreased that substance is the acid(donateshydrogen ions). If the number of hydrogens hasincreasedthat substance is the base (acceptshydrogenions).

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In this way, how do you determine if a solution is acidic or basic?

A solution with a pH of 7 is classifiedasneutral. If the pH is lower than 7, the solutionisacidic. When pH is higher than 7, the solutionisbasic. These numbers describe the concentration ofhydrogenions in the solution and increase on a negativelogarithmicscale.

One may also ask, how do you know if a salt is acidic or basic? The pH of a solution reflects the concentration ofH3O+ions. A pH less than 7 indicates an acidic solution, apHgreater than 7 indicates a basic solution, and a pH of7indicates a neutral solution. Acidic saltsmakeacidic solutions and basic salts makebasicsolutions.

Keeping this in view, how do you determine if an acid is strong or weak?

If an acid is not listed here, it is aweakacid. It may be 1% ionized or 99% ionized, but it isstillclassified as a weak acid. Any acid thatdissociates100% into ions is called a strong acid. Ifit doesnot dissociate 100%, it is a weak acid.

Is LiOH an acid or base?

No, LiOH is a strong base, like theotheralkali bases. It is a bit weaker than bases likeNaOHthough, because it's enthalpy of formation is different.Itsconjugate acid, Li+, can act as a weakLewisacid.

Related Question Answers

Marline Faisca

Professional

Is Hcooh an acid or base?

The protonated form HCOOH is the acidandthe deprotonated form HCOO- is theconjugatebase. That is formic acid (HCOOH) andtheformate ion (HCOO-) are a conjugate pair. In thesamereaction, the water is the base (deprotonated)whileH3O+ (the protonated form) is theconjugateacid.

Zoila Rieckers

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Is ch3cooh an acid or base?

So a strong acid (e.g. HCl) iscompletelydissociated in water and its conjugate base(Cl–) is avery, very weak base and shows no tendanceto accept aproton. A weak acid (e.g. CH3COOH) is inequilibriumwith its ions in water and its conjugate (CH3COO–,a weakbase) is also in equilibrium in water.

Argoitz Oieni

Explainer

Is NaOH an acid or base?

NaOH, or sodium hydroxide, is a compound.Acompound is classified as either an acid, base,orsalt. All bases contain OH- (hydroxide) ions, whileallacids contain H+ (hydrogen) ions. A salt is a compoundthatis formed when a base and an acid arecombinedbecause they neutralize each other.

Zhihua Rodriguez Guzman

Explainer

Is Na2CO3 an acid or base?

Na2CO3 is neither an acid norabase. It is a salt. A salt in chemistry is formed bythereaction of an acid and a base. Now depending onthestrength of the respective acid and base fromwhichthe salt is derived, it may be categorised as anacidic,basic or a neutral salt.

Wilian Kenny

Explainer

Is CaCl2 an acid or base?

Can CaCl2 be classified as an acid or asabase? CaCl2 is a salt of strong acid (HCl) andstrongbase Ca(OH)2. Thus when dissolved in water itshowsfollowing reaction. As solution contains equal number of H+and OH-ions,it is neutral in nature.

Kendrick Lichkov

Pundit

What is a basic solution?

A basic solution is an aqueoussolutioncontaining more OH-ions thanH+ions. In otherwords, it is an aqueous solutionwith a pH greater than7.

Nathaly Zillekens

Pundit

Is h3po4 a strong or weak acid?

Phosphorus is not electronegative enough. Along withthehigher electronegativity of N relative to P, the extra oxygenmakesHNO3 a strong acid, while the lack thereof makesH3PO4weak. After H3PO4 does lose a proton, it formsH2PO4-,which lacks sufficient resonance stabilization.

Josu Maran

Pundit

Is LiOH strong or weak?

Classifying Electrolytes
Strong Electrolytes strong acids HCl, HBr, HI, HNO3,HClO3,HClO4, andH2SO4
strong bases NaOH, KOH, LiOH, Ba(OH)2, andCa(OH)2
salts NaCl, KBr, MgCl2, and many, many more
Weak Electrolytes
weak acids HF, HC2H3O2 (aceticacid),H2CO3 (carbonicacid),H3PO4 (phosphoric acid), and manymore

Maximilia Hanbikov

Pundit

Is HClO4 an acid or base?

An example is perchloric acid,HCLO4 .Otherexamples of strong acids are H2SO4,HI,HCl and HNO3. Astrongbase completely ionizes in aqueous solution to giveOH- and acation . Sodium hydroxide is an example ofstrongbase.

Asceneth Bespflug

Pundit

Is HCl a strong acid?

A strong acid is an acid whichiscompletely ionized in an aqueous solution. Hydrogenchloride(HCl) ionizes completely into hydrogen ions andchlorideions in water. Weak acids, like strong acids,ionizeto yield the H+ ion and a conjugate base.BecauseHCl is a strong acid, its conjugatebase(Cl−) is extremely weak.

Henda Alas

Teacher

What are some examples of a weak acid?

A weak acid is an acid that doesn'tproducemany hydrogen ions when in aqueous solution. Weakacids haverelatively low pH values and are used toneutralize strongbases. Examples of weak acidsinclude: aceticacid (vinegar), lactic acid, citricacid,and phosphoric acid.

Lubos Veenstra

Teacher

What are the strong bases?

Here is a list of the most common strong bases.
  • LiOH - lithium hydroxide.
  • NaOH - sodium hydroxide.
  • KOH - potassium hydroxide.
  • RbOH - rubidium hydroxide.
  • CsOH - cesium hydroxide.
  • *Ca(OH)2 - calcium hydroxide.
  • *Sr(OH)2 - strontium hydroxide.
  • *Ba(OH)2 - barium hydroxide.

Narciza Wiersma

Teacher

How do you determine the strength of an acid?

The bond strength of an acidgenerallydepends on the size of the 'A' atom: the smaller the 'A'atom, thestronger the H-A bond. When going down a row in thePeriodic Table(see figure below), the atoms get larger so thestrength ofthe bonds get weaker, which means theacids getstronger.

Farrukh Dos Santos

Teacher

What makes a strong acid?

A strong acid is one that iscompletelydissociated or ionized in an aqueous solution. It is achemicalspecies with a high capacity to lose a proton,H+. Inwater, a strong acid loses one proton,which is captured bywater to form the hydronium ion: HA(aq) +H2O →H3O+(aq)+A−(aq)

Aifeng Escolano

Reviewer

What makes a weak base?

A base is a substance that can accepthydrogenions (H+) or, more generally, donate a pair ofvalenceelectrons; a weak base does not, therefore, fullyionize orcompletely accept hydrogen ions in an aqueous solution.Likeweak acids, weak bases can be used tomakebuffer solutions.

Donte Plo

Reviewer

What is the pH of NaCl?

pH of sodium chloride solutions
The pH of a sodium chloridesolutionremains ≈7 due to the extremely weak basicity oftheCl− ion, which is the conjugate base of thestrongacid HCl.

Merideth Cobas

Reviewer

Is vinegar acidic or basic?

Vinegar is acidic. Vinegar'spHlevel varies based upon the type of vinegar it is.Whitedistilled vinegar, the kind best suited forhouseholdcleaning, typically has a pH of around 2.5.Vinegar,which means “sour wine” in French, canbe made fromanything containing sugar, such as fruit.

Arlette Schmeltzpfenning

Reviewer

What is the pH of water?

6.5 to 8.5

Ela Pepersack

Supporter

What is the pH of salt?

Salts are formed when the H+ ion of the acidisreplaced by a cation, and the H+ ion which causes the pHtobe low is combined with OH- ions to form water or is released asH2gas. Thus, the salt is not acidic, and the pH ofsaltis 7.

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22nd January, 2020

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