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Acids and bases are common substances found in many every day items, from fruit juices and soft drinks to soap. In this unit we'll
exam what the properties are of acids and bases, and learn about the chemical nature of these important compounds. You'll learn what
pH is and how to calculate the pH of a solution.
Topic hierarchy
14.1: Sour Patch Kids and International Spy 14.2: Acids: Properties and Examples
Movies Acids are very common in some of the foods that we eat.
Sour Patch Kids are a soft candy with a coating of invert sugar Citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons contain citric acid
and sour sugar (a combination of citric acid, tartaric acid and and ascorbic acid, which is better known as vitamin C.
sugar). Its slogan, "Sour. Sweet. Gone.", refers to the sour-to- Carbonated sodas contain phosphoric acid. Vinegar contains
sweet taste of the candy. acetic acid. Your own stomach utilizes hydrochloric acid to
digest food. Acids are a distinct class of compounds because
of the properties of their aqueous solutions.
14.3: Bases: Properties and Examples 14.4: Molecular Definitions of Acids and Bases
A base is thought of as a substance which can accept protons Although the properties of acids and bases had been
or any chemical compound that yields hydroxide ions (OH-) recognized for a long time, it was Svante Arrhenius in the
in solution. It is also commonly referred to as any substance 1880's who determined that: the properties of acids were due
that can react with an acid to decrease or neutralize its acidic to the presence of hydrogen ions, and the properties of bases
properties, change the color of indicators (e.g. turn red litmus were due to the presence of hydroxide ions.
paper blue), feel slippery to the touch when in solution, taste
bitter, react with acids to form salts, and promote certain
chemical reactions (e.g. base catalysis).
14.5: Reactions of Acids and Bases 14.6: Acid–Base Titration: A Way to Quantify
When an acid and a base are combined, water and a salt are the Amount of Acid or Base in a Solution
the products. Salts are ionic compounds containing a positive Acid-base titrations are lab procedures used to determine the
ion other than H+ and a negative ion other than the hydroxide concentration of a solution. One of the standard laboratory
ion, OH-. Double displacement reactions of this type are exercises in General Chemistry is an acid-base titration.
called neutralization reactions. Salt solutions do not always During an acid-base titration, an acid with a known
have a pH of 7, however. Through a process known as concentration (a standard solution) is slowly added to a base
hydrolysis, the ions produced when an acid and base combine with an unknown concentration (or vice versa). A few drops
may react with the water to produce slightly acidic or basic of indicator solution are added to the base. The indicator will
solutions. signal, by color change, when the base has been neutralized
(when [H+] = [OH-]).
14.9: The pH and pOH Scales: Ways to Express 14.10: Buffers: Solutions That Resist pH
Acidity and Basicity Change
pH and pOH are defined as the negative log of hydrogen ion A buffer is a solution that resists dramatic changes in pH.
concentration and hydroxide concentration, respectively. Buffers do so by being composed of certain pairs of solutes:
Knowledge of ether can be used to calculate either [H+] of either a weak acid plus a salt derived from that weak acid or a
[OH-]. pOH is related to pH and can be easily calculated from weak base plus a salt of that weak base.
pH.