Bronsted Acids

[Shania Garrison Discussion 3E]

I was looking at different molecules and trying to determine if they would be a Bronsted acid or not.

One example that wouldn't was CH4. I believe this is because it is non-polar and therefore doesn't interact with water. As a general rule of thumb, will most acids be polar covalent or ionic?

Any tips on what to look for when determining if a molecule is an acid?

I feel like it would probably be easier to determine bases because they would just need to have a lone pair right?

[Konmal Ali 1G]

To start off, a Bronsted acid is a proton donor while a Bronsted base is a proton acceptor. CH4 is neither a Bronsted acid nor a Bronsted base and is considered to be neutral.

It is important to know that ionic compounds are when bonds are formed between nonmetals and metals. Covalent bonds form between two nonmetals. Acids are usually polar covalent while bases are generally ionic.

To determine if a compound is an acid or a base, it is important to count the number of hydrogens to see if they have decreased or increased before and after the reaction occurs. If the amount of hydrogens increases after the reaction, then it is a base, if it decreases, then that substance is an acid. This is because bases accept hydrogen ions, while acids donate them. I hope this helps!

[Grace Chang 1E]

Hi!

I also read in the textbook that for inorganic acids, the acidic "H" tends to be written at the front of the molecular formula (ex: HBr). For organic acids, the acidic "H" tends to be written at the end of the formula (ex: C6H5COOH). And by "acidic H", I'm referring to the H+ proton that is being donated.

I hope that helps!