Achieve #1 week 10

[205696437]

How do you determine the difference between a strong acid and weak base?

[Christine Lin 1H]

You will have to memorize the strong acids (thankfully, there are only a handful of strong acids):
HCl, HBr, HI, H2SO4, HNO3, HClO4, HClO3 (this can be considered weak sometimes)
Strong acids commonly have 2 more oxygen than hydrogens.
Any other acid other than these is considered a weak acid.

You will also have to memorize the strong bases:
LiOH, NaOH, KOH, RbOH, CsOH, Ca(OH)2, Sr(OH)2, Ba(OH)2

Any other base other than these is considered a weak base. NH3 is a very common weak base and amines (such as CH3NH2 and (CH3)3N) are also common bases.

Hope this was a little helpful :)

[KyleNagasawaDisc3C_Chem 14B2022W_]

Hey there, buddy!

Strong acids are largely characterized by the stability of the conjugate base, which can be stabilized by a gamut of factors ranging from solvent choice to methods of negative charge delocalization and conjugation within a molecule. While traditional pedagogy often implies that there are only a select few strong acids (typically within the oxyacid and hydrohalic acid classes), there is an absolute myriad of species that serve as strong acids due to the many ways that a conjugate base can be stabilized.

However, as Christine explained, general chemistry courses typically require you to be able to determine whether or not an acid is "strong" based on an ascribed chart. I believe there is a list of strong acids and bases on the archive website under the resources tab.

[Hailey Sarmiento 3E]

In solution, strong acid molecules will donate all their protons to the Bronsted base, or be fully deprotonated to the point where the reaction goes to completion and the forward reaction is highly favored. Weak bases are only partially protonated in solution, or there is an equilibrium in the reaction where only a small fraction of the weak base molecules accept a proton from a Bronsted acid.