In the last post, we have covered Chemical Definitions of ACIDs. Today we are going to cover on the “Basicity of ACIDs” – this part is where lots of students have misconception in their schools.
Do note that “BASICITY of ACIDs” is associated with the acids itself, and not on BASES. Many students always argued that Basicity comes directly from the word BASE itself and should only be associated with BASE as “BASICITY of BASEs”. I want to highlight over here that this is incorrect! Best way to persuade you would be checking out the Chemical Definition of “BASICITY”.
Definition of Basicity of An Acid:
Basicity of an acid refers to the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms in one molecule of the acid
Lets look closer on the 3 common types of Basicity of an acid.
Monobasic
Definition: 1 molecule produce 1 H+ ion upon dissociation
Example: HCl, HNO3
Dissociation Equation: HCl(aq) –> H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)
Dibasic
Definition: 1 molecule produce 2 H+ ion upon dissociation
Example: H2SO4
Dissociation Equation: Figure it out yourself!!
Tribasic
Definition: 1 molecule produce 3 H+ ion upon dissociation
Example: H3PO4
Dissociation Equation: H3PO4(aq) –> 3H+(aq) + PO4 3-(aq)
Learnt something from the above already? Good! Now, let’s try out an exam-based questions that are associated with it.
Quick Check 1:
Sulphuric acid is a dibasic acid because:
A. each molecule contain 2 hydroxide ions
B. each molecule can produce 2 hydrogen ions
C. one mole of the acid contains two atoms of hydrogen that can be replaced by a metal
D. sulphuric acid can only be neutralized by 2 bases
E. sulphuric acid has the usual properties of an acid, but is also a dehydrating agent
PS: Do leave your suggested answers in the “Comments Section” directly below this post.
PPS: This post belongs to a series of blogposts that is associated with Secrets of “Acids, Bases & Salts and Qualitative Analysis revelaed”