What makes strong acid

The strength of an acid refers to the ease with which the acid loses a proton. A strong acid ionizes completely in an aqueous solution by losing one proton, according to the following equation:. Strong acids yield weak conjugate bases. An example is hydrochloric acid HCl , whose pKa is This generally means that in aqueous solution at standard temperature and pressure, the concentration of hydronium ions is equal to the concentration of strong acid introduced to the solution.

Due to the complete dissociation of strong acids in aqueous solution, the concentration of hydronium ions in the water is equal to the total concentration ionized and un-ionized of the acid introduced to solution:. Strong acids can accelerate the rate of certain reactions. For instance, strong acids can accelerate the synthesis and hydrolysis of carbonyl compounds. Practice: pH and pOH of strong acids and bases.

Next lesson. Current timeTotal duration Google Classroom Facebook Twitter. For example, hydrochloric acid, HCl, as a strong acid it donates a proton to water, H2O, to form the hydronium ion, H3O plus, and the conjugate base to HCl which is the chloride anion, Cl minus. In reality, this reaction reaches an equilibrium. However, the equilibrium lies so far to the right and favors the product so much that we don't draw an equilibrium arrow, we simply draw an arrow going to the right, indicating the reaction essentially goes to completion.

It's also acceptable to completely leave water out of the equation and to show hydrochloric acid, HCl, turning into H plus and Cl minus. And since there's only one water molecule difference between H plus and H3O plus, H plus and H3O plus are used interchangeably. Hydrochloric acid is an example of a monoprotic strong acid. Monoprotic means, hydrochloric acid has one proton that it can donate in solution. Sulfuric acid is H2SO4 and it's a strong acid, but it's a diprotic acid, meaning it has two protons that it can donate, however, only the first ionization for sulfuric acid is strong.

Let's calculate the pH of a strong acid solution. In this case, we're gonna do a 0. Because nitric acid is a strong acid, we assume the reaction goes to completion. Therefore, if the initial concentration of nitric acid is 0. If the acid or base conducts electricity weakly, it is a weak acid or base. The instructor will test the conductivity of various solutions with a light bulb apparatus. The light bulb circuit is incomplete. If the circuit is completed by a solution containing a large number of ions, the light bulb will glow brightly indicating a strong ability to conduct electricity as shown for HCl.

If the circuit is completed by a solution containing large numbers of molecules and either no ions or few ions, the solution does not conduct or conducts very weakly as shown for acetic acid.

An acid or base which strongly conducts electricity contains a large number of ions and is called a strong acid or base and an acid or base which conducts electricity only weakly contains only a few ions and is called a weak acid or base. The bond strengths of acids and bases are implied by the relative amounts of molecules and ions present in solution.

The bonds are represented as:. Acids or bases with strong bonds exist predominately as molecules in solutions and are called "weak" acids or bases. Acids or bases with weak bonds easily dissociate into ions and are called "strong" acids or bases. Acids and bases behave differently in solution based on their strength. Acid or base "strength" is a measure of how readily the molecule ionizes in water. Some acids and bases ionize rapidly and almost completely in solution; these are called strong acids and strong bases.

For example, hydrochloric acid HCl is a strong acid. A similar concept applies to bases, except the reaction is different. A strong base like sodium hydroxide NaOH will also dissociate completely into water; if you put in 1 mole of NaOH into water, you will get 1 mole of hydroxide ions. The terms "strong" and "weak" in this context do not relate to how corrosive or caustic the substance is, but only its capability to ionize in water.

The ability of a substance to eat through other materials or damage skin is more of a function of the properties of that acid, as well as its concentration.

Although, strong acids are more directly dangerous at lower concentrations a strong acid is not necessarily more dangerous than a weak one.