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Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen, with the molecular formula H 2 SO 4. It is a colorless, odorless, and viscous liquid that is miscible with water. [7] Structure ...
Concentrated sulfuric acid is a strong dehydrating agent that can strip available water molecules and water components from sugar and organic tissue. [141] The burning of coal and/or petroleum by industry and power plants generates sulfur dioxide (SO 2) that reacts with atmospheric water and oxygen to produce sulfurous acid (H 2 SO 3). [142]
Sulfuric acid is known to be abundant in the clouds of Venus, in the form of aerosol droplets. In a biochemistry that used sulfuric acid as a solvent, the alkene group (C=C), with two carbon atoms joined by a double bond, could function analogously to the carbonyl group (C=O) in water-based biochemistry. [43]
Halogens are so named due to their potential to form salts, and form many simple strong acids with hydrogen. Out of the four stable halogens, only fluorine and chlorine have reduction potentials higher than that of oxygen, allowing them to form hydrofluoric acid and hydrochloric acid directly through reaction with water. [17]
[59] [b] Sulfuric acid is classified as a strong acid; in aqueous solutions it ionizes completely to form hydronium (H 3 O +) and hydrogensulfate (HSO − 4) ions. In other words, the sulfuric acid behaves as a Brønsted–Lowry acid and is deprotonated to form hydrogensulfate ion. Hydrogensulfate has a valency of 1.
Sulfur dioxide is an intermediate in the production of sulfuric acid, being converted to sulfur trioxide, and then to oleum, which is made into sulfuric acid. Sulfur dioxide for this purpose is made when sulfur combines with oxygen. The method of converting sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid is called the contact process. Several million tons are ...
Treatment of sulfur with hydrogen gives hydrogen sulfide.When dissolved in water, hydrogen sulfide is mildly acidic: [5] H 2 S ⇌ HS − + H +. Hydrogen sulfide gas and the hydrosulfide anion are extremely toxic to mammals, due to their inhibition of the oxygen-carrying capacity of hemoglobin and certain cytochromes in a manner analogous to cyanide and azide.
For example, carbon dioxide, CO 2, is the anhydride of carbonic acid, H 2 CO 3, and sulfur trioxide, SO 3, is the anhydride of sulfuric acid, H 2 SO 4. These anhydrides react quickly with water and form those oxyacids again. [4] Many organic acids, like carboxylic acids and phenols, are oxyacids. [3]