Acids & Bases

Introduction

Vital to the study of chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, is understanding acid and base chemistry.

Famous acids include the amino acids.

	Acid	Base
Arrhenius	H+ in H₂O	OH^— in H₂O
Bronsted-Lowry	[H+] proton donor	[H+] proton acceptor
Lewis	electron pair acceptor	electron pair donor

Conjugates

Carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) reacts with an hydroxide ion (HO-) to produce bicarbonate (HCO-) and water (H₂). The carbonic acid becomes bicarbonate as it loses a hydrogen to the hydroxide ion, transforming it into water. The carbonic acid is a proton donator, making it an acid. The hydroxide ion is a proton acceptor, making it a base. The bicarbonate now has one less proton than carbonic acid, making it carbonic acid’s conjugate base. The water has one more proton than the hydroxide ion, making it hydroxide’s conjugate acid.

Important Units & Measurements

[Ka]	Acid Dissociation Constant [Ka] —
[pKa]	–Log Acid Dissociation Constant [pKa] — this number can be used to calculate pH.
[H⁺]	Proton Concentration —
[pH]	–Log Proton Concentration —

Acids & Bases

Introduction

Conjugates

Important Units & Measurements

[Ka]

[pKa]

[H+]

[pH]

Strong Acids favor Reactants

[H⁺]