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ACIDS
The word acid usually implies a dangerous, corrosive substance, however, not all acids are this way. Many
acids are consumed on a daily basis e.g. lactic acid in milk, citric acid in oranges, ascorbic acid or vitamin
C.

Sources of Acids – all acids are derived from simple covalently bonded molecules e.g.:

• The oxides of non-metals – these are usually gases: CO2(g), NO2(g), SO2(g)

• The hydrides of group 7 elements (the halogens) – these are the gases: HCl(g), HBr(g) and HI(g)

• Organic acids i.e. compounds of carbon e.g. vinegar (ethanoic acid), lactic acid. These are usually
liquids or solids

All of the above acidic substances in their pure forms do not display acidic properties.

Acidic properties are only shown when these substances dissolve in water.

When water is added, a chemical reaction occurs and the covalent bonds in these molecules are broken
causing the release of H+ ions.

This is referred to as Ionisation or Dissociation of the acid.

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Ionisation:

SO2(g) + H2O(l)  H+ (aq) + HSO3- (aq) (Sulphurous acid)

CO2(g) + H2O(l)  H+ (aq) + HCO3- (aq) (Carbonic acid)

HCl(g) + H2O(l)  H+ (aq) + Cl- (aq) (Hydrochloric acid)

CH3COOH(l) + H2O(l)  H+ (aq) + CH3COO- (aq) (Ethanoic acid)

Acid (definition)
An acid is a substance which produces hydrogen ions (H+) (protons) as the only positive ions when
dissolved in water.

An acid will turn blue litmus paper red.

Hazard symbol for Acids:

CLASSIFYING ACIDS
Acids can be classified in a number of different ways:
1. Mineral vs Organic – Many common acids are derived directly or indirectly from minerals
in the earth’s crust e.g. chlorides, nitrates, sulphur. These acids are called mineral acids.
They include nitric acid, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid. Organic
acids on the other hand are compounds of carbon e.g. methanoic acid and ethanoic acid.

2. Strong vs Weak – the ionisation of an acid was described above. What was not mentioned
was that there are different degrees of ionisation:

A Strong Acid is defined as one which completely ionises in aqueous solution. In other
words, there are no undissociated molecules left e.g.

HCl(g) + H2O(l)  H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Or
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HCl(aq)  H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

A Weak Acid however is one which undergoes incomplete ionisation in aqueous solution.
Such an acid produces an equilibrium mixture containing ions and undissociated
molecules. E.g.

CH3COOH(l) + H2O(l) CH3COO-(aq) + H+(aq)

Or

CH3COOH(aq) CH3COO-(aq) + H+(aq)

3. Basicity of an acid – this refers to the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms an acid
contains e.g.

Monobasic Acids:

HCl – Hydrochloric acid

HNO3 – Nitric acid

CH3COOH – Ethanoic acid

Dibasic Acids:

H2SO4 – Sulphuric acid

H2CO3 – Carbonic acid

Tribasic Acid:

H3PO4 – Phosphoric acid

4. Strength vs Concentration

Very often the strength of an acid is confused with its concentration i.e. ‘strong’ is
sometimes replaced by ‘concentrated’ and weak is replaced by ‘dilute’. This s incorrect.
The terms concentrated and dilute refer to the amount of acid (solute) dissolved in a given
volume of solution.