Strong Acid vs. Weak Acid

[Cecilia Cisneros 1F]

How do we differentiate acids as being strong acids vs. weak acids? Dr. Lavelle listed some for us, but how do we determine this ourselves when given different compounds?

[Claire_Latendresse_1E]

Hi! Luckily, there are only a few strong acids. The most helpful way to differentiate between strong and weak acids for me is just to memorize the list of strong acids.

[Marisa Gaitan 2D]

I think it is most important to know that strong acids dissociate completely while weak acids do not dissociate completely. To differentiate, a strong acid will have a lower pH than a weak acid at the same concentration. Other than that, I generally just memorize the most common strong acids and most common weak acids. Maybe Lavelle will give us more ways to differentiate between the two in a later lecture.

[Emmeline Phu 1G]

Hi! I think the best way to generally differentiate between a strong or weak acid would just be to memorize common weak acids and common strong acids. Although, between two acids we can determine which is stronger by looking at the strength of its bond which is dependent on its length. Because the strength of an acid is dependent on its ability to dissociate or ionize in a solution, a weaker bond in a molecule would indicate that it is stronger because it is able to dissociate more easily producing more H+ ions/protons. Hope this helps! :)

[Jonathan Batac - 2D]

All you can really do is memorize the strong versus weak acids. There doesn't seem to be a clear trend in identifying them . For example, HCl and HBr are both strong acids and halogens, but HF is a halogen but not a strong acid. The same goes with strong bases and weak bases.

[Libby Dillon - 1A]

Another way to help differentiate between strong and weak acids is to remember that organic / carbon containing acids fall into the weak acid category. So acids such as Carbonic Acid, H2CO3 and Benzoic Acid, C6H5COOH are considered weak acids.

[SahajDole_1C]

Best way is to memorize the strong bases and acids.

[BKoh_2E]

In general, strong acids have weaker bonds. Acids with Carbon are also weak. However, we will likely need to memorize the list because these trends are not inclusive of all types of acids.