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Acids and Alkalis

Acids, bases, alkalis and metals are found in the laboratory and at home. They can be
irritant or corrosive and must be handled carefully. How acid or alkaline a chemical is can be
measured on the pH scale, using indicators like litmus and universal indicator. Acids and
bases react together to form salts and other products too.

Acids in the laboratory

Dilute acids

You will have used some dilute acids at school, such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid
and nitric acid. Their bottles are labelled with the warning symbol for 'irritant'.

This means that if any of them makes contact with your skin, it will become red or blistered.
You must wash off any spills with plenty of water, otherwise your skin will soon feel as if it is
burning.

Concentrated acids

You are unlikely to have used concentrated acids but your teacher might have shown you
some experiments with them. This is because concentrated acids are corrosive. They can
attack metals and destroy skin if spilled.

Acids in the home

Laboratory acids are far too dangerous to taste, but you will have swallowed some dilute
weak acids. Acids have a sour taste, like vinegar, which containsethanoic acid, and
lemons, which contain citric acid. These are safe to use in food, but they can still hurt if
they get into a cut or into your eyes.

Other acids you will find at home are carbonic acid in fizzy drinks, tannic acid in tea
and ascorbic acid which is vitamin C, found in fruit and vegetables.

Source Acid

Vinegar Ethanoic acid

Fizzy drinks Carbonic acid

Tea Tannic acid

Vitamin C Ascorbic acid

 Source Acid

Lemons Citric acid

Bases and alkalis

Bases vs alkalis

Bases are substances that react with acids and neutralise them. They are usually metal
oxides, metal hydroxides, metal carbonates or metal hydrogen carbonates. Many bases are
insoluble - they do not dissolve in water.

If a base does dissolve in water, we call it an alkali.

Here are two examples:

Copper oxide is a base because it will react with acids and neutralise them, but it is
not an alkali because it does not dissolve in water.

Sodium hydroxide is a base because it will react with acids and neutralise them.
It's also an alkali because it dissolves in water.
All alkalis are bases, but only soluble bases are alkalis

Bases in the laboratory

You will have used some strong bases and alkalis at school, such as sodium hydroxide
solution. Like acids, their bottles are labelled with the warning symbol for 'irritant'. This
means that they will make your skin red or blistered unless you wash off any spills with
plenty of water.

Alkalis feel soapy when they get on your skin, so it is easy to tell when you have had an
accident and must wash your hands.

Concentrated alkalis are corrosive. They can attack metals and destroy skin if spilled.
They are just as dangerous as concentrated acids, but many people do not realise this.

Bases in the home

Bases react with oils and fats, so they are often used in strong household cleaners. Drain
cleaners and oven cleaners usually contain sodium hydroxide for example. And ammonia is
also commonly used in cleaners. Ammonia can be recognised by its choking smell.

It is wise to wear gloves when using these substances, otherwise they will react with your
skin and burn it.

Weak bases and alkalis are found in toothpaste, antacid tablets (to help cure an upset
stomach) and baking powder.

Indicators and the pH scale

When an acid is dissolved in water we get an acidic solution, and alkalis
make alkaline solutions. If a solution is neither acidic nor alkaline we call itneutral. Pure
water is neutral, and so is paraffin.

Indicators are substances that change colour when they are added to acidic or alkaline
solutions. You can prepare homemade indicators from red cabbage or beetroot juice - these
will help you see if a solution is acidic or alkaline.

Litmus and universal indicator are two indicators that are commonly used in the laboratory.

Litmus

Litmus indicator solution turns red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions - and it
turns purple in neutral solutions.

Litmus paper is usually more reliable, and comes as red litmus paper and blue litmus
paper. The table shows the colour changes it can make.

Red Litmus Blue Litmus

Acidic solution Stays red Turns red

Neutral solution Stays red Stays blue

Alkaline solution Turns blue Stays blue

Notice how we say 'stays red'. This is better than saying 'nothing' or 'stayed the same',
because it tells us the colour we actually see.

Acids turn blue litmus paper red Alkalis turn red litmus paper blue
 Universal indicator and the pH scale

Universal indicator is a mixture of several different indicators. Unlike litmus, universal

indicator can show us exactly how strongly acidic or alkaline a solution is. This is measured
using the pH scale. The pH scale runs from pH 0 to pH 14.

Universal indicator has many different colour changes, from red for strong acids to dark
purple for strong bases. In the middle, neutral pH 7 is indicated by green.

These are the important points about the pH scale:

neutral solutions are pH 7 exactly

acidic solutions have pH values less than 7
alkaline solutions have pH values more than 7
the closer to pH 0 you go, the more strongly acidic a solution is
the closer to pH 14 you go, the more strongly alkaline a solution is

Reactions of acids with bases

A chemical reaction happens if you mix together an acid and a base. The reaction is
called neutralisation, and a neutral solution is made if you add just the right amount of
acid and base together.

Metal oxides and metal hydroxides

Metal oxides and metal hydroxides are two types of bases. For example copper oxide and
sodium hydroxide.

Here are general word equations for what happens in their neutralisation reactions with
acids.

metal oxide + acid a salt + water

metal hydroxide + acid a salt + water

 Notice that a salt and water are always produced. The mixture usually warms up a little
during the reaction, too. The exact salt made depends upon which acid and base were used.

Carbonates and hydrogen carbonates

Carbonates and hydrogen carbonates are two other types of base. They also make a salt
and water when we neutralise them with acid. But this time we get carbon dioxide gas
too.

The reaction fizzes as bubbles of carbon dioxide are given off. This is easy to remember
because we see the word 'carbonate' in the chemical names.

These are the general word equations for what happens:

acid + metal carbonate a salt + water + carbon dioxide

acid + metal hydrogen carbonate a salt + water + carbon dioxide

Using neutralisation
Farmers use lime (calcium oxide) to neutralise acid soils.
Your stomach contains hydrochloric acid, and too much of this causes indigestion.
Antacid tablets contain bases such as magnesium hydroxide and magnesium carbonate to
neutralise the extra acid.
Bee stings are acidic. They can be neutralised using baking powder, which contains
sodium hydrogen carbonate.

Naming salts
A salt is always made when an acid is neutralised by a base. But the exact salt made
depends upon which acid and base were used.

The name of a salt has two parts:

the first part comes from the metal in the base used
the second part comes from the acid that was used

Example
Where does the name potassium nitrate come from?

These are the rules for the second part of the name of a salt:
Acid used Second part of salt's name

hydrochloric acid chloride

sulphuric acid sulphate

nitric acid nitrate

Example: copper sulphate

Copper sulfate crystal

How can we make copper sulphate? The first part of the name is 'copper', so we need a
base containing copper. We could use copper oxide or copper carbonate, for example. The
second part of the name is 'sulphate', so we need to use sulphuric acid.

Here are word equations for those reactions.

copper oxide + sulphuric acid copper sulphate + water

copper carbonate + sulphuric acid copper sulphate + water + carbon dioxide

Example: sodium chloride

How can we make sodium chloride? The first part of the name is 'sodium', so we need a
base containing sodium. We could use sodium hydroxide or sodium hydrogen carbonate, for
example. The second part of the name is 'chloride', so we need to use hydrochloric acid.

Here are word equations for those reactions.

sodium hydroxide + hydrochloric acid sodium chloride + water

sodium hydrogen carbonate + hydrochloric acid sodium chloride + water +
carbon dioxide

It would be very difficult to neutralise the acid in these reactions perfectly exactly. Some
acid or base would be left over. So it would not be safe to taste the sodium chloride solution
produced.

Reactions of acids with metals

Acids react with most metals and a salt is produced. But unlike the reaction between acids
and bases we don't get any water. Instead we get hydrogen gas.

This is the general word equation for the reaction:

metal + acid salt + hydrogen

Salts

The salt produced depends upon the metal and the acid. Here are two examples:

zinc + sulphuric acid zinc sulphate + hydrogen

magnesium + hydrochloric acid magnesium chloride + hydrogen

It doesn't matter which metal or acid is used, if there is a reaction we always get hydrogen
gas as well as the salt.

The test for hydrogen

There is a simple laboratory test to see if a gas is hydrogen. A lighted wooden splint goes
pop if it is put into a test tube of hydrogen. This is because the flame ignites the hydrogen,
which burns explosively to make a loud sound.

Acids and hydrogen

All acids contain hydrogen atoms. Apart from hydrochloric acid, this is not clear from their
names, but you can tell they contain hydrogen from their chemical formulae. Remember
that the chemical symbol for hydrogen is H.
 Name of acid Chemical formula of acid

hydrochloric acid HCl

nitric acid HNO3

sulphuric acid H2SO4

carbonic acid H2CO3

phosphoric acid H3PO4