chem1 virtual textbook

a reference text for General Chemistry

Stephen Lower

Simon Fraser University

Acids and bases touch upon virtually all areas of chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology. This set of lessons will get you started by presenting the underlying concepts in a systematic way. Aside from the section on pH which presumes an elementary knowledge of logarithms, there is no math here. The subject of acid-base equilibrium calculations is not covered in this lesson; the only Virtual Textbook chapter presently available on this topic is a somewhat advanced one in PDF format. This, together with an earlier PDF document that covers much of the material in this lesson can be found here.

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> To access the desired page, click one of the seven lesson titles immediately below; you can also go directly to any sub-section within a lesson by clicking on a smaller heading.

1- Introduction: What is an acid? What is a base?

- Acids
- Acids and the hydrogen ion
- Bases
- Neutralization
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

2- Aqueous solutions: pH and titration

- "Dissociation" and ion-product of water
- What is pH?
- The pH scale
- Acid-base titrations
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

3- Proton donors and acceptors

This is the most important lesson in this unit. If you master it, you are almost guaranteed to pass Chemistry!

- Brønsted-Lowry acids and bases
- The hydronium ion
- Acid-base reactions à la Brønsted
- The leveling effect
- Autoprotolysis
- Ampholytes
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

4- Competing for the proton: acid-base reactions

How to predict the direction of an acid-base reaction. Spend some time here, and your reward will be a far better understanding of acid-base chemistry.

- Proton energy, sources, and sinks
- Strong acids and weak acids
- Autoprotolysis
- Proton energy and the meaning of pH
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

5- Electron pairs: Lewis acids and bases

Most elementary courses will cover only the first two topics of this section.

- Protons and electron-pairs
- Acids without protons
- Applications to organic reactions
- Non-aqueous protonic systems
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

6- Types of acids and bases

It's important to recognize the structural features that make a substance act as an acid or a base.

- Binary hydrogen compounds
- Hydroxy compounds
- Oxygen compounds
- Amphiprotic substances
- Metal cations
- Salts
- Organic compounds
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do

7- Gallery of acids and bases you should know

The "descriptive" chemistry covered here usually gets squeezed out of modern chemistry courses, but it's interesting stuff and well worth knowing.

- The mineral acids
- The alkalies
- Some important organic acids
- Concept map
- What you should be able to do