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Topic: How come CH3COOH is called acetic acid, but there's no H in front of it.  (Read 15097 times)

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Offline XxslbabesxX

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I've learned that formulas for acids generally begin with H followed by whatever.

How come CH3COOH is called acetic acid, but there's no H in front of it. I know this is a silly question probably with a simple answer, but it's bugging me. Thank you.  :)
« Last Edit: May 13, 2005, 11:55:30 PM by Mitch »

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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2005, 07:57:10 PM »
In chemistry there are usually more exclusions than rules ;)

Inorganic acids are usually written with H at the beginning of the formula.

Organic acids are written in many ways. Proton responsible for their acidity is a part of caroboxylic group. This group is usually written -COOH but sometimes -CO2H.

Acetic (or ethanoic) acid is CH3COOH, but it is sometimes written CH3CO2H or - even worse - C2H4O2.

Don't bother, not formula counts but the molecule structure.
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Offline Mitch

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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2005, 02:56:33 AM »


Don't bother, not formula counts but the molecule structure.

So true.
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Offline xiankai

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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2005, 07:47:43 AM »
CH3COOH is classified into 2 parts, the CH3COO- ethanoate ion and the H+ proton
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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2005, 11:47:23 AM »
I would rather split it into CH3- and -COOH, as this shows the structure and helps understand properties.
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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2005, 12:19:48 PM »
You seemed to be confused in the definition of acids and bases.  Review the definitions, Arrehnius, Bronsted, Lewis.  Acetic acid, has an acidic proton, and thus it qualifies as an Arrehnius acid.

Offline XxslbabesxX

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Re:Acid Question
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2005, 05:19:41 PM »
You seemed to be confused in the definition of acids and bases.  Review the definitions, Arrehnius, Bronsted, Lewis.  Acetic acid, has an acidic proton, and thus it qualifies as an Arrehnius acid.

Yea, right now I'm learning all of that in my chem class, but it's just hard for me to understand. Looks like I got to hit the books this weekend.

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Sometimes you'll even see acetic acid's formula written as HC2H3O2 in order to emphasize that it is an acid.  (Though this is generally only done in very introductory chemistry courses/books before organic chemistry is taught).
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