Rucete ✏ Chemistry In a Nutshell
1. Strong vs. Weak Acids and Bases
Strong Acids
- Completely ionize in water.
- Examples: HCl, HBr, HI, HNO₃, HClO₄, H₂SO₄
- Reaction goes to completion: HCl → H⁺ + Cl⁻
Weak Acids
- Partially ionize in water.
- Examples: CH₃COOH (acetic acid), HF, H₂CO₃
- Exist in equilibrium: CH₃COOH ⇌ H⁺ + CH₃COO⁻
Strong Bases
- Completely dissociate in water.
- Examples: NaOH, KOH, Ba(OH)₂
- Reaction: NaOH → Na⁺ + OH⁻
Weak Bases
- Partially react with water to form OH⁻.
- Examples: NH₃, CH₃NH₂
- Equilibrium reaction: NH₃ + H₂O ⇌ NH₄⁺ + OH⁻
2. Strength vs. Concentration
- Strength refers to degree of ionization.
- Strong = complete ionization
- Weak = partial ionization
- Concentration refers to amount of acid/base dissolved in solution (mol/L).
- You can have:
- Dilute strong acid (e.g., 0.01 M HCl)
- Concentrated weak acid (e.g., 5 M CH₃COOH)
3. pH and Acid/Base Strength
- Strong acids/bases → greater effect on pH
- Weak acids/bases → smaller effect on pH (buffering behavior)
In a nutshell
Strong splits completely, weak holds back!
- Strong acids/bases fully dissociate
- Weak acids/bases only partially dissociate
- Strength ≠ concentration
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Chemistry in a nutshell