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In such cases, the system can be treated as a mixture of the acid or base and water, which is an amphoteric substance. By accounting for the self-ionization of water, the true pH of the solution can be calculated. For example, a 5×10 −8 M solution of HCl would have a pH of 6.89 when treated as a mixture of HCl and water. The self-ionization ...
The pH scale is by far the most commonly used acidity function, and is ideal for dilute aqueous solutions. Other acidity functions have been proposed for different environments, most notably the Hammett acidity function , H 0 , [ 3 ] for superacid media and its modified version H − for superbasic media.
The Hammett acidity function (H 0) is a measure of acidity that is used for very concentrated solutions of strong acids, including superacids.It was proposed by the physical organic chemist Louis Plack Hammett [1] [2] and is the best-known acidity function used to extend the measure of Brønsted–Lowry acidity beyond the dilute aqueous solutions for which the pH scale is useful.
Water is also central to acid-base neutrality and enzyme function. An acid, a hydrogen ion (H +, that is, a proton) donor, can be neutralized by a base, a proton acceptor such as a hydroxide ion (OH −) to form water. Water is considered to be neutral, with a pH (the negative log of the hydrogen ion concentration) of 7 in an ideal state. Acids ...
Water is amphoteric: it has the ability to act as either an acid or a base in chemical reactions. [87] According to the Brønsted-Lowry definition, an acid is a proton (H +) donor and a base is a proton acceptor. [88] When reacting with a stronger acid, water acts as a base; when reacting with a stronger base, it acts as an acid. [88]
In water, measurable pK a values range from about −2 for a strong acid to about 12 for a very weak acid (or strong base). A buffer solution of a desired pH can be prepared as a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base. In practice, the mixture can be created by dissolving the acid in water, and adding the requisite amount of strong acid ...
With pOH obtained from the pOH formula given above, the pH of the base can then be calculated from =, where pK w = 14.00. A weak base persists in chemical equilibrium in much the same way as a weak acid does, with a base dissociation constant (K b) indicating the strength of the base. For example, when ammonia is put in water, the following ...
For example, if the concentration of the conjugate base is 10 times greater than the concentration of the acid, their ratio is 10:1, and consequently the pH is pK a + 1 or pK b + 1. Conversely, if a 10-fold excess of the acid occurs with respect to the base, the ratio is 1:10 and the pH is pK a − 1 or pK b − 1.