Acids/Bases

[Lillian]

What exactly determines the strength of an acid/base? Didn't really understand if there was a concept that I needed to know for this or there was an equation to determine this.

[Brennan McGurrr 3C]

The strength of an acid or base is determined by how soluble they are in water. Strong acids like HCl and HBr are completely soluble due to their high ionic character. Weak acids like CH3COOH are not completely soluble and remain partially as molecules in solution. We don't need to know this right now because he will cover acids and bases later.

[Shalyn Kelly 3H]

Just to clarify, would a base also be stronger if it's completely soluble, or is it the other way around for them?

[IanWheeler3F]

Like someone said about not needing to know this yet but, there are only 7 strong acids that dissolve completely into H+ and anions, and then there are only a few strong bases which are hydroxides of all group one elements and Calcium, Strontium, and Barium. Otherwise any other acid or base only partially dissolves in solution, the amount is determined by a special constant experimentally determined for each acid/base, this constant is called K sub a (Ka) which just means acid dissociation constant. But if we really want to be technical, this constant changes with temperature so at high temperatures more H+ dissolves out making it "more acidic" than at lower temperatures.

[George Hernandez 3I]

Also, the presence of H+ ions within a given solution will reflect the strength of an acid. A higher concentration means a stronger Acid. The same goes for OH- ions in the case of the strength of a base.

[Kendall_Dewey_2D]

Also, the idea of a strong and weak acid or base is related to their ability to conduct electricity. If an acid or base conducts electricity strongly, it's a strong acid or base. If the acid or base conducts electricity weakly, it's weak.

[Ariana Flores 3F]

It's based on the concentration/ratio of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water, basically. At least I think so, that's how I think of it and it helps!

[Bai Rong Lin 2K]

What exactly determines the strength of an acid/base? Didn't really understand if there was a concept that I needed to know for this or there was an equation to determine this.

I believe it has to do with the amount of Hydrogen ion in a compound and its type.