Strong vs Weak Acids/bases

[Grace Boyd 2F]

What is the difference between solutions of strong vs weak acids/bases? The textbook lists a lot of variations and I was wondering what the most critical ones are to fully understand for this course.

[Qining Jin 1F]

I think the strength of acids is based on percent of dissociation; strong acids are assumed to be 100% dissociated in aqueous environments. Strong bases are usually salts with -OH (there are exceptions)

[Camille Ng 1D]

The main distinction is that strong acids/bases dissociate basically 100% in water so that you will not need to do a ICE table calculation. However, weak acids/bases require this calculation and you would need to find the amount of H30+ or OH- in the solution.

[Suhail Zaveri]

Hello,

Strong acids always completely dissociate. Strong acids have weak bonds and want to separate. Only if water is the solvent then they will dissolve completely so .10 M of Hcl will be .10 M H plus and .10 M cl- but weak acids don’t dissociate very well. Weak acids have this ionization constant which is usually very low which determines the percent dissociation. Also weak acids are in equilibrium and can only dissociate minimally and have a Ka value.

Hope this helps

[mayasinha1B]

The main distinction is definitely that strong acids dissociate more easily. It is also important to remember what Professor Lavelle discussed in class today (12/04/17) to help identify stronger vs. weak acids. Strong acids lose H+ easily and resulting anions are stable.