Brønsted-Lowry Acids and Bases Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the history, definitions, and equilibrium constants of Br nsted-Lowry acids and bases based on lecture notes.

Robert Boyle's 1680 characterization

Noted that acids dissolve many substances, change certain natural dyes like litmus from blue to red, and lose properties when contacting alkalis.

Humphry Davy (1815)

Demonstrated that hydrogen is the essential constituent of acids.

Svante Arrhenius (1884) acid definition

A compound that dissolves in water to yield hydrogen cations, now recognized as hydronium ions ($H_3O^+$).

Svante Arrhenius (1884) base definition

A compound that dissolves in water to yield hydroxide anions ($OH^-$).

Proton

What remains when the most common isotope of hydrogen, $H$, loses an electron; symbolized as $H^+$.

Br nsted-Lowry acid

A compound that donates a proton to another compound.

Br nsted-Lowry base

A compound that accepts a proton from another compound.

Br nsted-Lowry acid-base reaction

The transfer of a proton from a proton donor (acid) to a proton acceptor (base).

Conjugate base

The product that remains after an acid donates a proton; it can accept a proton to re-form the acid.

Conjugate acid

The product that results when a base accepts a proton; it can give up a proton to re-form the base.

Acid ionization

The reaction between a Br nsted-Lowry acid and water, such as when $HF$ reacts with $H_2O$ to yield $H_3O^+$ and $F^-$.

Base ionization

A reaction in which protons are transferred from water molecules to base molecules, yielding hydroxide ions ($OH^-$) and the conjugate acid.

Autoionization

A reaction in which a substance ionizes when one molecule of the substance reacts with another molecule of the same substance, such as in pure water.

Ion-product constant for water ($K_w$)

The equilibrium constant for the autoionization of water, expressed as $K_w = [H_3O^+][OH^-]$.

$K_w$ at $25\,^∘C$

The value of the ion-product constant for water is $1.0 \times 10^{-14}$.

Hydronium and hydroxide concentration in pure water at $25\,^∘C$

Both concentrations are equal to $1.0 \times 10^{-7}\,M$.

Amphiprotic

Describes molecules or ions, like water, that may either gain or lose a proton under appropriate conditions.

Amphoteric

A general term for a species that may act as either an acid or a base by any acid-base definition.