CHAPTER – 3

ACID – BASE THEORY

Introduction: -
To identify a substance is an acid or a base some methods can
be used, these include use of pH meter, indicator, litmus paper etc.
ACID: -
 Acids are sour to taste.
 They turn blue litmus paper to red.
 Solutions having pH ranging 0 to 7 are known as acids.
 They have a tendency to lose H+ ions.
BASE: -
 Bases are bitter to taste.
 They turn red litmus paper to blue.
 Solutions having pH ranging 7 to 14 are known as bases.
 They have a tendency to produce OH- ions.
Theoretically, three theories have been proposed to identify
whether a substance is an acid or a base. They are:
1. Arrhenius Theory
2. Lowry – Bronsted Theory
3. Lewis Theory

ARRHENIUS THEORY: -
According to Arrhenius theory, Acids are the substances which
produce H+ions (protons) in aqueous solution.
HCl → H+ (aq.) + Cl – (aq.)
Some examples of acids: HCl, HNO3, H2SO4, CH3COOH, etc.

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Bases are the substances which produce OH- ions in aqueous
solution.
NaOH(s) → Na+ (aq.) + OH – (aq.)
Some examples of bases: LiOH, KOH, NH4OH, Ca(OH)2, Al(OH)3, etc
Salient Features: -
1. According to Arrhenius theory an acid reacts with a base to
form salt and water and the reaction is called neutralization
reaction.
HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H2O
(Acid) (Base) (Salt) (Water)
Neutralization reaction may be represented as:
H+ (aq.) + OH – (aq.) → H2O (l)
(From acid) (From base)
Limitations: -
1. H+ ion does not exist in aqueous solution. It combines with H2O,
as soon as its formation to give hydronium ion (H3O+).
H+ + H2O → H3O+
2. The theory fails to explain the acidic and basic nature of the
substances in solvents other than water.
3. The theory fails to explain the acidic nature of the substances
like SO2, CO2, SiO2, P2O5, BF3, AlCl3, etc. which cannot provide H+
ions.
4. The theory fails to explain the basic nature of the substances
like NH3, PH3, Na2O, K2O, CaO etc. which can't provide OH - ions.
5. The theory fails to explain neutralization reactions between
some acidic and basic substances which do not produce water.
HCl + NH3 → NH4Cl

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BRONSTED - LOWRY THEORY: -
According to Bronsted-Lowry theory,
“Acids are the substances/molecules/ions which donate a
proton (H+ ion) to any other substance, while bases are the
substances/molecules/ions which accept a proton (H + ion) from
any other substance.”
In other words, acids are proton donors whereas bases are proton
acceptors.
For example:

(Acid) (Base)
Since, HCl has donated a proton (to NH 3), it acts as an acid. On
the other hand, NH3 has accepted a proton from HCl and thus it acts
as a base.
Examples of Acids:
1. All Arrhenius acids are Bronsted-Lowry acids; (HCl, HNO 3,
H2SO4, H3PO4, CH3COOH, H2CO3 etc.) however the reverse is not
true.
2. Ions having capacity to donate H + ion: (HS-, HCO3-, HPO42-, HSO4-
etc).
Examples of Bases:
1. Natural molecules such as: H2O, NH3, RNH2, PH3, AsH3, etc.
2. Ions having capacity to accept H+ ion like OH-, CN-, HCO3-, etc.

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Salient Features:-
According to this theory an acid reacts with a base to form another
pair of acid and base.
For example:

The pair of acid and base which differ by a proton (H+ ion) is called a
conjugate acid-base pair.
Acid – H+ → Conjugate base
Base + H+ → Conjugate acid
Limitations: -
1. It fails to explain the acidic nature of the substances, such as
SiO2, CO2, SO2 and BF3 etc. which cannot donate H+ ion.
2. It fails to explain the basic nature of the substances, such as
Na2O, K2O, and CaO etc. which cannot accept H+ ion.
Acid Conjugate- Base Base Conjugate- Acid

HCl Cl- Br- HBr

H2SO4 HSO4- CN- HCN
HS- S2- O2 - OH -
NH4 + NH3 NH3 NH4 +
H2O OH- H2O H3O+

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LEWIS THEORY: -
According to Lewis theory,
“Acids are the substances (molecules/ions) which can accept a
pair of electrons from any other substance, while bases are the
substances (molecules/ions) which can donate a pair of electrons to
any other substance.”
In other words, acids are electron acceptors while bases are
electron donors.
Examples of acids: -
1. Cations like: H+
2. Neutral molecules containing electron deficient atoms are
Lewis acids. For example: BF3, AlCl3, FeCl3, ZnCl2 etc.
3. Neutral molecules containing vacant d-orbital in the central
atom for the accommodation of incoming electrons act as
Lewis acids. For example: SiF4, SiCl4 etc.
Examples of Bases: -
1. All anions are Lewis bases: F-, Cl-, CO32- etc.
2. Neutral molecules containing at least one lone pair of
electrons are Lewis bases: Examples: NH3, PH3, H2O etc.
Salient Features: -
1. According to this theory, an acid reacts with a base to form a
co-ordinate or dative bond. For example, the reaction between
NH3 (Lewis base) and H+ (Lewis acid) results in the formation of
a dative bond.

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 All Bronsted- Lowry bases are Lewis bases while the reverse is not
always true.
Limitations: -
1. According to this theory, the reaction between an acid and
base results in the formation of a dative bond. Formation of a
coordinate bond is a slow process. While the reactions
between the acids and the bases are instantaneous or fast.
2. The theory fails to explain the relative strengths of different
acids and bases.
3. It fails to explain reaction between some acids and bases
where no coordinate bond is formed.
4. It fails to explain the acidic nature of well-known acids like HCl,
HNO3 and H2SO4 etc. which cannot accept electrons.
5. It fails to explain the basic nature of well-known bases like
NaOH, KOH, etc. which cannot donate electrons.

NEUTRALIZATION OF ACIDS AND BASES: -

According to Arrhenius Theory, acid react with bases to form
salt and water. This type of reaction is called neutralization
reaction.
1. Normal salt: - A strong acid reacts with a strong base to
form a simple or normal salt. Its aqueous solution has a pH of
about 7 and is neutral.

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 For examples: - NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2etc
HCl + NaOH → NaCl + H2O
2. Acidic salt: - A strong acid reacts with a weak base to form a
acidic salt.
For examples: NH4Cl, NH4NO3, (NH4)2SO4 etc.
HCl + NH4OH → NH4Cl + H2O
3. Basic salt: - A weak acid reacts with a strong base to form a
basic salt.
For examples: CH3COONa, CH3COOK, Na2CO3, K2CO3, etc.
CH3COOH + NaOH → CH3COONa + H2O
4. Neutral salt: - A weak acid reacts with a weak base to form a
neutral salt.
CH3COOH + NH4OH → CH3COONH4 + H2O
5. Double salts: - Two simple salts react with each other to
form a double salt. The ions of which retain their identity in
aqueous solution.
For examples: Potash Alum [K2SO4.Al2(SO4)3.24H2O],
Mohr’s Salt [FeSO4.(NH4)2SO4.6H2O],
Carnalite (KCl. MgCl2.6H2O), etc.
6. Complex Salts: - These are the molecular addition
compounds obtained by the combination of simple salts, the
ions of which lose their identity in aqueous solution.
For example: K4[Fe(CN)6], K3[Fe(CN)6], [Cu(NH3)4]SO4, etc.

7. Mixed Salts: - These are the salts which give either more
than one cation or more than one anion in aqueous solution.
Examples: Bleaching powder, Sodium potassium sulphate
[NaKSO4] etc.
Ca (OCl) Cl → Ca2+ + OCl – + Cl –
NaKSO4 → Na+ + K+ + SO42–

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