Acid and Bases

[rejoice_puente_3L]

How can you tell if it is a strong acid/base and if it is a weak acid/base?

[Alyssa Cheung 3I]

Strong acids are usually inorganic with a high Ka value and low pKa value.
Weak acids are usually organic with a low Ka value and high pKa value.
Strong bases are usually metal hydroxides and metal oxides (think groups 1 and 2 of the periodic table). They have high Kb and small pKb values.
Weak bases you'll notice usually have a nitrogen with a lone pair. They have small Kb but high pKb values.

If you want to check, Lavelle also posted a list of strong/weak acids/bases on his website with some notes detailing their common characteristics.

[NISHA PATEL 1C]

Hey! Dr. Lavelle posted a sheet that includes all of the strong/weak acids and bases. I found it very helpful when completing the homework and textbook problems.

In order to tell if something is a strong acid is if it has a large Ka value and a small Pka value. Weak acids have the opposite (small Ka and large Pka). Similarly, strong bases have a large Kb value and a small Pkb value. Weak bases have the opposite (small Kb and large Pkb).

[Arielle Luong]

The strength of and acid is pretty dependent on the stability of the atom. A strong acid/base is more stable after its reaction with water than it is in its acidic/basic state. This is why most of the strong acids and bases have elements from group 1/ group 17. These are some of the more reactive elements because of their electron configurations.

There are only a few though so it's easier to just memorize which ones they are just to be safe.