Dissociation of Acids The Details

Strong Acids CBS and PIN HCl HBr H2SO4 HClO4 HI HNO3 All strong acids dissociate 100% and must be written as such.

Examples HCl H+ + Cl- HNO3 H+ + NO3- H2SO4 H+ + HSO4- HClO4 H+ + ClO4-

What happens when they react with a base? The next slide shows how to write STRONG acids when they react with a base.

When written in ionic equations H+ + Cl- + Na+ + OH- HOH + Na+ Cl- H+ + OH- HOH H+ + HSO4- + Na+ + OH- HOH + HSO4- + Na+ H+ + OH- HOH H+ + I- + Na+ + OH- HOH + Na+ + I- H+ + OH- HOH

Weak Acids All other Acids Do NOT dissociate 100%, so they must be written as a molecule when they are a reactant.

How do WEAK Acids dissociate? They actually dissociate similarly to strong acids, in that a H+ ion is removed. H3PO4 H+ + H2PO4- HC2H3O2 H+ + C2H3O2-

What happens when they react with a base? The next slide shows how to write WEAK acids when they react with a base.

Examples H3PO4 + Na+ + OH- HOH + Na+ + H2PO4- H3PO4 + OH- HOH + H2PO4- HC2H3O2 + Na+ + OH- HOH + Na+ + C2H3O2- HC2H3O2 + OH- HOH + C2H3O2-

Keys to dissociating acids properly! It doesn’t matter how many H+ are a part of the acid, only ONE hydrogen ion will dissociate to an appreciable amount.