ACIDS AND BASES

Definition:

Arrhenius theory: According to this theory an acid is a substance that produce H+ or H3 O+ produce in water;

for example: HCl, HNO3, H2 SO 4 and a base is a substance that can produce OH- in water ; for example :

NaOH, LiOH, Ca(OH)2.

Bronsted Lowry theory: According to this theory acids are those substances which can donate proton H+; for

example: NH4+, HSO4, and all arrhenius acids. Bases are those which can accept proton for example: NH3,
H2O, CO3-2.
Lewis theory: According to this theory acids are those which can accept electron pair for example: H+, positive

ions – Al+3, Fe+2 etc and bases are those which can donate a pair of electrons for example: OH-, negative ions-
F-, O-2, N-3.
Properties of Acids and Bases:
ACIDS:
• When dissolved in water produce Hydrogen ions
• Neutralize bases to produce water and salts
• Turns blue litmus into red
• Sour in taste
• Electrolytes in nature
BASES:
• When dissolved in water produce Hydroxyl ions
• Neutralize acids to produce water and salts
• Turns red litmus into blue
• Bitter in taste
• Electrolytes in nature, conduct electricity
Acid Base Reaction:

NEUTRALIZATION: This is the reaction between H+ or H3 O+ from an acid and the OH- from base to form water.
The neutralization reaction is exothermic and release approximately 56KJ / mole of energy.
H+ + OH- ------------ H2 O ΔH˚ = - 55.9KJ
Acid + Base ------------ Salt + Water
e.g. HCl+ NaOH ------------ NaCl + H2 O
STRONG AND WEAK ACIDS AND BASES:
Strong acids:
A strong acid completely dissociate into ions (conjugate acid and base) in water or from salt but a
weak acid dissociates partially.
Strong acid: HA + H20 ------------ H3O+ + A-
+
e.g. HCl + H20 ------------ H3O + Cl-
(acid) (base) (conjugate acid) (base)
Weak acids: A weak acid dissociate very slightly into ions in water unlike that of strong acids.

Weak acid: HA + H20 --------- H3O+ + A-

CH3COOH + H20 --------- H3O+ + CH3COO-

(acid) (base) (conjugate acid) (base)

In a dilute solution of weak acid major molecules are undissociated.

In general a strong acid has a weak base while weak acid has strong base.
Examples:
Strong Acid: Acid + conjugate base (weak) Weak Acid: Acid + conjugate base (strong)
HCl H +
+ Cl -
CH3COOH H+ + CH3COO-
H2SO4 H+ + HSO4 HNO3 H+ + NO3-
Strong base: A strong base can dissociate completely into ions (conjugate base) and acid water
+
Strong base: XOH --------- X + OH-
Base conjugate acid conjugate base
+
Example: NaOH --------- Na + OH-
Weak base: A weak base partially dissociates or weakly dissociated in dilute form, into ions in water.
Examples of acids and bases:

SL.NO STRONG ACID WEAK ACID STRONG BASE WEAK BASE

1 HCl HCO3 LIOH NH3
2 HNO3 H3PO4 NaOH AMINES

3 H2SO4 HF KOH
4 HClO4 HCN Ca(OH)2
5 HBr H2SO3 Ba(OH)3
6 HI

Degree of dissociation:
The extent of dissociation or ionization of weak acids and weak bases is called as Degree of dissociation or
ionization. It is always less than 1.
HA --------- H+ + A-
[H+][A-]
Ka = [HA]
Ka = Dissociation constant of acid or Acid constant
HYDROGEN ION CONCENTRATION (pH)

• Sorenson in 1909 introduced pH and defined it as negative logarithm of Hydrogen ion concentration. A

scale pH id used to express the H+ ion concentration in water.

• pH = - log [H+] or pH= 1/ log [H+]

• When an acid gets dissociated it releases ions

 HA --------- H+ + A-
[H+][A-]
Ka = [HA]
Ka = Dissociation constant of acid or Acid constant
-log Ka = pKa
pH = pKa+ log [A-]/[HA]

• The acidic or basic nature of solution is measured by H+ ion concentration.

• In case of base the pH is expressed in terms of pOH which is

pOH = -log [OH-] or 1/ log [OH-]

• The dissociation constant of base is given by

XOH --------- OH- + X+

Kb = [oH-] [x+]
[xOH]
Kb = Dissociation constant of base or base constant
pOH = pKb+ log [Conjugate cation]/[Base]

(or) pOH = pKb+ log [x+]/[xOH]

• The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14

• pH less than 7.0 is said to be acidic, pH 7.0 is neutral and pH above 7.1 is basic

• Pure water has an equal concentration of H+ & OH – ions. That means 10-7 each. So pure water
is neutral. In a neutral condition the relation between pH and pOH is
pH + pOH = 14.
Importance of pH in biological fluids:

• Most of the biological reactions require appropriate pH (optimum pH) the change in which
stops the reaction.

• Microorganisms require optimum pH for their growth.

• Most of the crops best grown for better yield at specific pH of soil.

Some important pH values of biological fluids:

Biological Fluid pH Biological Fluid pH
Pancreatic juice 7.5 -8.0 Gastric juice 1.5 -2.0
Blood plasma 7.35 – 7.45 Saliva 6.4 -7.0
Tears
7.2 -7.4 Urine 5.0 -7.5
Human milk
7.2 -7-4
 WATER
Introduction

• Water is the most abundant substance in living systems, making up to 70% or more of the weight of most

of the organisms.
• The first living organism coecerovates arose from aqueous environment
• It is regarded as the SOLVENT OF LIFE
• The structure and function of bio molecules (carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acid etc) depends upon the
attractive forces between the water molecules and their ionization property.
Properties of water

• The Hydrogen bonds between water molecules provide the cohesive forces that make water a liquid at room

temperature.
• Polar bio molecules dissolve readily in water because they can replace water- water interactions with more
energetically favorable water -solute interactions.

• Non polar bio molecules interfere with water – water interactions but are unable to form water solute

interactions; non polar molecules are poorly soluble in water. In aqueous solutions non polar molecules tend
to cluster together.

• Hydrogen bonds, ionic bond and van der waals interactions are individually weak but collectively they

influence on 3 Dimensional structure of proteins, Nucleic acids, Polysaccharides and membrane lipids.
Bonding in water molecules:
• Water molecules exist in a bent geometry.

• The bond angle is 104.5˚ slightly less than tetrahedron (109.5˚) and the O –H distance is 0.958 A˚

• There exists electrical property in water due to the electro negativity difference between H & O. The unequal

sharing results in two electric dipoles in the water molecules. Each Hydrogen bears partial positive charge

(δ+) and oxygen bears partial negative charge (δ-). So water has an electric dipole.
δ+
δ+
H H

104.5˚

O
δ-
---
-------
---

H
 H
H
Hydrogen bonding of water
• Water has a higher Melting point, boiling point and heat of vaporization than other solvents.
• Each Hydrogen atom of water molecule shares an electron pair with central oxygen atom.