Which is weaker/stronger?

Acidity
Basicity
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melissasandoval2O
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:00 am

Which is weaker/stronger?

Postby melissasandoval2O » Sat Nov 19, 2016 3:11 pm

Hello everyone!!
During lecture on Friday, Dr. Lavelle went over how you can tell which is a stronger acid or base. And I was a little confused because I thought if the Ka value is higher, that would make it stronger. But he went over examples where the higher number meant it was the weaker one? Can someone please explain that to me?
Thanks a lot!

Edward_Lee_3C
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:58 pm

Re: Which is weaker/stronger?

Postby Edward_Lee_3C » Sat Nov 19, 2016 4:14 pm

Take the negative log of the concentration of hydronium ions in the solution. This is to find the pH of the solution. 1-6 is acidic and the lower the pH the more acidic it gets. He was talking about the molarity of the acids where 1.0*10^-6 M hydronium would be a weaker acid than 1.0*10^-3 M hydronium

Edward_Lee_3C
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:58 pm

Re: Which is weaker/stronger?

Postby Edward_Lee_3C » Sat Nov 19, 2016 5:02 pm

If the Ka, acidity constant, is low then that means only a small portion of the acid molecules donate their protons, meaning it incompletely deprotonates which is a clear indication of a weak acid.


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