Identifying acids and bases

[MarissaSmith1B]

Hi! I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to identify acids or bases when it is not provided in the question whether the molecule is an acid or a base? Thank you

[Katya Wardhana 2E]

Hi, how I approach this is by trying to create an equation where the species reacts with water. If it contains an H atom (usually it is written first), this means that it can donate it to the water molecule forming H3O+, so it is an acid. If it contains an OH group, it can likely accept a proton donated by water to form H2O, so it is a base. For neutral molecules, they typically do not have H+ or OH- groups that can be removed, and if they are salts they are formed by a strong base and strong acid.