Strong Acids and Bases

[705960571]

To differentiate strong acids and bases I was planning to memorize the strong acids and weak bases since those were the fewest in number and assume everything else is either a weak acid or strong base. Is this the best strategy?

[Renee Wen 3H]

This is what I did, and so far, it has been working fairly well for me when I’ve been doing practice problems! Moreover, it helps to know small tricks like how bases tend to have a nitrogen due to them having a lone pair of electrons that can bind to hydrogen for identifying weak acids and bases.

[Alyssa_Miao_3B]

Yes, definitely remembering the seven strong acids is helpful since you know anything other than those seven have to be weak acids. I'm not sure about memorizing weak bases, however, because I think the list that Dr. Lavelle provided us isn't an exhaustive list of all weak bases. I think to be on the safe side, you should just memorize what strong bases would look like. Weak bases include group 1 hydroxides (ex: NaOH3), group 2 hydroxides (ex: Ca(OH)2), and group 1 and 2 oxides (ex: Na2O and MgO).

[Brandon_G_1H]

Hello! What has worked for me was just memorizing the strong acids and bases since there are fewer. Then when you have them memorized it is easier to call out weak acids and bases from strong ones.

[Emily Lee 2H]

I just memorized all the strong acids and then whatever is not strong, you know its weak. Same with the bases.

[Brianna Bui 2J]

That works!

I also like to think about the components of the substance to try to determine if they are a strong acid/strong base.

Some strong acids have a hydrogen paired with a halogen (with the exception of F as HF is a weak acid). Ex: HCl, HBr, HI

Some strong bases have cations from period one (and two) bonded to hydroxide.
Ex: LiOH, NaOH, KOH,RbOH,CsOH.
period 2 cations: Ca2+, Ba2+, and Sr2+

Another thing to think about is that spectator ions usually make strong acids and bases when bonded to H or OH. Most cations and anions I have listed in the examples are spectator ions. This is because strong acids and bases disassociate/ionize completely, and spectator ions do not affect pH of solution. Thus, the reverse reaction cannot occur.
This is why it's important to remember that weak acids and bases cannot dissociate/ionize completely, yet strong acids/bases can.

[jennacostello8]

I would definitely recommend memorizing the strong acids/bases. For bases, I memorized groups 1 and 2 elements attached to OH-. For acids, I used the acronym "So I Brought No Clean Clothes" for H2SO4, HI, HBr, HNO, HCl, HClO4, HClO3. Hope this helps!

[Sara Dolmo 2J]

Yeah, I think this method is good! It helps to memorize them because when they pop up on the test, it would be easier to call them.