Basic vs. Acidic

[Alexandra Carpenter 1G]

What is affected when a reaction takes place in a basic or acidic solution?

[Samantha Kan 2L]

In terms of balancing, when the reaction takes place in a basic solution you use OH- to balance the chemical reaction. When the reaction takes place in an acidic solution, you use H+ to balance.

[rkusampudi]

I would add that if OH- and H+ ions are on the same side, then they are written as water.

[Ashley Davis 1I]

It affects the way you balance the equations. For a reaction in an acidic soln, you would balance the O's in the half-reactions using H2O and then balance the H's using H+ ions. For a reaction in a basic soln, you would balance the O's in the half-reactions using H2O and then, to balance the H's, add H2O to the side without H2O and then add OH- to the side that already had an H2O from your previous step. Otherwise, the steps to balance the redox reaction are the same whether acidic or basic.

[Alejandra Rios 1L]

When dealing with acids and bases, the balancing of equations would be effected. This is based on the H+ present in acid and OH- present in bases which needs to be accounted for in the reaction.

[Yu Chong 2H]

If the concentration of H+ is very high, it may be preferentially reduced to H2 gas. Remember that the cell potential depends on the concentration of the solution.

[Dylan Mai 1D]

have we learned any concepts where acidic or basic affects our calculations of enthalpy, entropy, or Gibbs free energy?