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5: Acids, Bases, and pH

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    152886
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    • 5.1: Electrolytes
      Substances that dissolve in water to yield ions are called electrolytes. Electrolytes may be covalent compounds that chemically react with water to produce ions (for example, acids and bases), or they may be ionic compounds that dissociate to yield their constituent cations and anions, when dissolved. Dissolution of an ionic compound is facilitated by ion-dipole attractions between the ions of the compound and the polar water molecules.
    • 5.2: Arrhenius Acids and Bases
      An Arrhenius acid is a compound that increases the H+ ion concentration in aqueous solution. An Arrhenius base is a compound that increases the OH− ion concentration in aqueous solution. The reaction between an Arrhenius acid and an Arrhenius base is called neutralization and results in the formation of water and a salt.
    • 5.3: Brønsted-Lowry Acids and Bases
      Compounds that donate a proton (a hydrogen ion) to another compound is called a Brønsted-Lowry acid. The compound that accepts the proton is called a Brønsted-Lowry base. The species remaining after a Brønsted-Lowry acid has lost a proton is the conjugate base of the acid. The species formed when a Brønsted-Lowry base gains a proton is the conjugate acid of the base. Amphiprotic species can act as both proton donors and proton acceptors. Water is the most important amphiprotic species.
    • 5.4: pH and pOH
      The concentration of hydronium ion in a solution of an acid in water is greater than \( 1.0 \times 10^{-7}\; M\) at 25 °C. The concentration of hydroxide ion in a solution of a base in water is greater than \( 1.0 \times 10^{-7}\; M\) at 25 °C. The concentration of H3O+ in a solution can be expressed as the pH of the solution; \(\ce{pH} = -\log \ce{H3O+}\). The concentration of OH− can be expressed as the pOH of the solution: \(\ce{pOH} = -\log[\ce{OH-}]\). In pure water, pH = 7 and pOH = 7.
    • 5.5: The pH of Solutions of Weak Acids
      This section details how to find the pH of weak acid solutions.
    • 5.6: The pH of Solutions of Weak Bases
      The pH of a solution of a weak base can be calculated in a way which is very similar to that used for a weak acid. Instead of an acid constant Ka, a base constant Kb must be used.


    5: Acids, Bases, and pH is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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