stupid "weak" and "strong" acids (1 Viewer)

[abdooooo!!!]

what is with the stupid definitions of strong and weak in chemistry?

strong if ionises completely, weak if not

so an acid that ionises 1% is weak and ionises 99% is weak as well???

the conjugate of a weak substance is weak, and the conjugate of a strong substance is too weak to react with the solvent

wtf, that don't even make sense!?! they take a simple concept and word it with stupid definitions to confuse the people thats trying to learn it. why don't they just describe it with % of ionisation? gay chemists...

 

[spice girl]

You'd find that in the real world, acids either dissociate v close to 100%, or they dissociate below 10%. That's the world as it is...

there are like one or two exceptions: H3PO4 is like a moderate acid, etc.

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

Originally posted by spice girl
You'd find that in the real world, acids either dissociate v close to 100%, or they dissociate below 10%. That's the world as it is...

there are like one or two exceptions: H3PO4 is like a moderate acid, etc.

some like acetic i think are around 30%!

 

[spice girl]

i dun think so

acetic acid would be round 0.1%

 

[JUB JUB]

strong acids, weak acids...

-a strong acid is fully ionised in solution
-a weak acid is partially ionised in solution.

hence: HCl is stronger than ethanoic acid because it has more particles ionised in solution.

You can also say talk about pH....since pH = log10 [H+], the more hydrogen ions, the lower the pH, thus it is more acidic...


makes sense....I think.

 

[kini mini]

Originally posted by spice girl
i dun think so

acetic acid would be round 0.1%

That's what I thought...something less than 1%.

 

[kurotenshi]

wha???

i thought that the conjugate base of a weak acid is strong and a conjugate base of a strong acid is weak...
but that's just me so....=P

 

[Weisy]

Re: wha???

Originally posted by kurotenshi
i thought that the conjugate base of a weak acid is strong and a conjugate base of a strong acid is weak...
but that's just me so....=P

they're not talking about conjugate acids and bases, they're talking about the extent of ion dissociation of acids.

I always thought acetic was something like 1 in 10 000.

 

[inasero]

to clarify.....

a weak acid is one that ionises to a large extent (not necessarily fully) in solution (for example Hydrochloric Acid), whereas

a a weak acid is one that does not dissociate to such a great extent (the classic example is ethanoic acid)

so be careful not to take the phrase "completely ionises" too literally there.....