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P3. ACID-BASE NEUTRALIZATION REACTIONS

 P3.8  Ionizing Solvents 

Pure, dry, liquid sulphuric acid or pure, dry acetic acid does not change the colours of indicators nor does either react with carbonates.  As soon as water is added they do both.

Likewise dry hydrogen chloride gas does not exhibit the properties expected of an acid in aqueous solution.  When this covalent compound is dissolved in water it interacts with the solvent - also covalent - and ionizes, i.e., splits up, into hydroxonium ions and chloride ions, this mixture of ions being known as aqueous hydrochloric acid.

Y_ionizing_solvents.jpg

In each of the exercises below, attempt to identify the two pairs of acid-base conjugates.

acid-base conjugate pairs

N.B. It follows that if a solution gives rise to a strong acid, for example, then the conjugate base of that acid will be correspondingly weak, and vice versa.

So-called proton transfer processes are very important across many different areas of chemistry.and, on planet Earth, represent a major class of chemical reaction.

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