Identifying Bronsted Acids and Bases [ENDORSED]

[Rachel Brown 3A]

I know that a bronsted acid is a proton donor and a bronsted base is a proton acceptor but is there a technique to identifying which a compound is? For example, KOH or H2SO3

[Suchita 2I]

If a compound has a proton it can donate it can act as a Bronsted acid. For example, HCO3 - can donate a proton and form CO3 2-. A compound can act as a Bronsted base if it can accept a proton, which it can only do if it has a lone pair of electrons it can donate. For example, HC03- can accept a proton and form H2CO3 due to the lone pair on oxygen.

[Yifei Wang 3G]

we can tell from the chemical equation, which are usually given in the problems. If from the left to the right, a reactant loses H+, it is the Bronsted acid. If from the left to the right, a reactant gains H+, it is the Bronsted base.

[snehabhargava]

A bronsted acid usually has a H+ that will be donated while a bronsted acid will usually have an OH- it will donate.