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Acids and Kw


inshm2016

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Hi,

 

I am currently studying chemistry have 2 questions:

 

1. It says in my text book that ''acids react to form bases and vice versa''. But how is that always true? For example, a base is not formed when an acid reacts with a metal to produce a salt and hydrogen gas, right?

 

2. If I have understood it correctly, Kw=H+*OH- and in a neutral solution (ex. pure water), H+ = OH- and hence sqrt(Kw)=H+. Does this also mean that sqrt(Kw)=OH-?

 

 

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Hello!
1)
By Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry definitions, when an acid loses (dissociates) a proton, it is said to become a conjugate base. 
For example, if NH4(acid) loses one of its protons, it becomes NH(a base).

In the reaction Zn(s) + 2HCl(aq) --------> ZnCl2(aq) + H2(g)

The Cl-(aq) are in fact the conjugate bases to HCl(aq)

2)
Yes in a neutral solution, gif.latex? [H^+] = [OH^-] = \sqrt{K_w} . There are equal amounts of protons and hydroxides in a neutral solution.
 

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