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Topic: Acids  (Read 3286 times)

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Offline salleebrowne

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Acids
« on: January 23, 2011, 08:14:59 PM »
I know that the concentration of H+ determines the pH, but is there a certain pH value that defines a strong acid?

Offline opti384

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Re: Acids
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2011, 08:47:12 PM »
Some strong acids will be HCl and HNO3. Also, you might want to look at pKa instead of the pH value if you are to determine whether an acid is strong or weak.

Offline salleebrowne

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Re: Acids
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2011, 09:48:43 PM »
I guess what I really want to know is whether or not a weak acid can still have a low pH like around 2 or 1.

Offline opti384

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Re: Acids
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2011, 09:58:00 PM »
Yes it could. As pH is related to concentration, a weak acid could also have a low pH value.

Offline rabolisk

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Re: Acids
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2011, 01:16:43 AM »
Strength and concentration are related but different. Concentration of [H+] determines pH. When we say a strong acid, we mean an acid that will dissociate almost completely in water. Mathematically, these are acids whose pKa is less than that of H3O+, which is -1.7.  If you have a highly concentrated weak acid, you can give rise to a very acidic solution (low pH), but the acid itself is always weak. You can almost think of strength as an intensive property and concentration as an extensive property.

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