pKas are most often used in biochemistry.

Because its so useful to just focus on the exponent, why not do that? p-something means take the log of something, then change its sign. So if something is a multiple of 10 this is easy. The pKa of a Ka which is 1 x 10 -5is 5 The pKa of a Ka which is 1 x 10 -6is 6, etc. If it is not a multiple of 10, there will not be a 1 out in front, and you need to whip out your scientific calculator or log tables. The pKa of a Ka which is 5 x 10 -6= ? Well, somewhere near 6, but you dont know exactly....use your calculator, and it is 5.3. Not exactly, 6, is it, but it wasnt too far off. It is a blatant ballbark sloppy estimate to just look at the exponent and change the sign, but without a calculator at hand, what else can you do? I think its helpful to glance at the exponent, change the sign, and get your sloppy estimate, even though you know it will be naughty to use it officially. It gives you an idea, at least. Since you change the sign with a p-something, you invert the scale. So, the bigger the pKa, the weaker the acid. There are also pKbs which are just the negative log of a bases Kb. Again, the the bigger the pKb, the weaker the base. But instead of using the Kb or pKb or a base, the Ka or pKa of its conjugate acid is more often used. So you have to do a reversal again! This is because The stronger a base, the weaker its conjugate acid. The weaker a base, the stronger its conjugate acid. (That was discussed above.) There is another inversely proportional equation for this concept, for an acid base conjugate pair Ka x Kb = constant (or you could use pKa and pKb if you like) So it can be really confusing to hear the pka of a base! They are really talking about the pKa of the conjugate acid of the base. If the base is weaker, its conjugate acid will be stronger, and it will have a high Ka and a low pKa. If the base is stronger, its conjugate acid will be weaker, and it will have a low Ka and a high pKa Conjugate thingsacids and bases always come in pairs An acid always becomes its conjugate base, and a base always becomes it conjugate acid. Adding or removing a proton from a molecule creates a conjugate acid or its conjugate base, respectively. It helps to think of conjugates as the product of an acid or base reacting, and also remember the definition of acid and base above. When an acid loses a proton, it the remaining thing (without the proton) is called its conjugate base. When a base does what bases do, the thing it becomes (with a proton) is called its conjugate acid. Theoretically, in a reverse reaction, the conjugate products would act as acids or bases, but the reaction may or may not be capable of going backwards. This depends on the strength of the reactants, which I talk about later, below.