Acids and Bases

Acids and Bases 

     In the late 1800s, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius proposed that water can dissolve many compounds by separating them into their individual ions. Arrhenius suggested that acids are compounds that contain hydrogen and can dissolve in water to release hydrogen ions into solution. For example, hydrochloric acid (HCl) dissolves in water as follows:

HCl H2O H+(q) + Cl-(aq) Arrhenius defined bases as substances that dissolve in water to release hydroxide ions (OH-) into solution. For example, a typical base according to the Arrhenius definition is sodium hydroxide (NaOH):

NaOH H2O Na+(aq) + OH-(aq) The Arrhenius definition of acids and bases explains a number of things. Arrhenius's theory explains why all acids have similar properties to each other (and, conversely, why all bases are similar): because all acids release H+ into solution (and all bases release OH-). The Arrhenius definition also explains Boyle's observation that acids and bases counteract each other. This idea, that a base can make an acid weaker, and vice versa, is called neutralization.

In 1923, the Danish scientist Johannes Brønsted and the Englishman Thomas Lowry published independent yet similar papers that refined Arrhenius'theory. In Brønsted's words, "... acids and bases are substances that are capable of splitting off or taking up hydrogen ions, respectively." The Brønsted-Lowry definition broadened the Arrhenius concept of acids and bases. The Brønsted-Lowry definition of acids is very similar to the Arrhenius definition, any substance that can donate a hydrogen ion is an acid (under the Brønsted definition, acids are often referred to as proton donors because an H+ ion, hydrogen minus its electron, is simply a proton).

The Brønsted definition of bases is, however, quite different from the Arrhenius definition. The Brønsted base is defined as any substance that can accept a hydrogen ion. In essence, a base is the opposite of an acid. NaOH and KOH, as we saw above, would still be considered bases because they can accept an H+ from an acid to form water. However, the Brønsted-Lowry definition also explains why substances that do not contain OH- can act like bases. Baking soda (NaHCO3), for example, acts like a base by accepting a hydrogen ion from an acid as illustrated below:

Acid Base Salt HCl + NaHCO3 H2CO3 + NaCl In this example, the carbonic acid formed (H2CO3) undergoes rapid decomposition to water and gaseous carbon dioxide, and so the solution bubbles as CO2 gas is released.