Determining the Number of Hydrogens Donated

[205696343]

How do you determine whether a polyprotic acid will donate one hydrogen atom or more than one hydrogen atom to the base? Is there some way to determine whether a polyprotic acid will lose more than one hydrogen ion to water when in a solution, or are we supposed to assume that the acid will just be donating one hydrogen?

[Dana Sorensen 1C]

I think we assume one proton because once one proton had been donated the molecule will be called a different name since the chemical formula and composition is different, so while that new molecule might be acidic and donate a proton too I don't think we care about that unless we're going into multi step reactions.

[Kaethe Zappacosta 2L]

I would assume the acid donates one proton at first, and then the new acid created has the potential to also donate an acid. It is just harder for the second acid to do so. This is because the KA value will be smaller for the second deprotonation, as it is harder for an already negatively charged compound to lose a proton.

[Joshua Lee 3C]

I believe that the base will donate one hydrogen atom at a time. The new base and acid created by the first reaction may have the capability to donate or accept another hydrogen atom, but it would then be considered a different reaction because the acid and base would be chemically different than in the initial reaction.