AP Chemistry Unit Review

Unit 8: Acids and Bases

How it applies to our lives

As the CO2 enters the atmosphere some of it gets absorbed into the ocean and dissolves later on. The dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid by combining with the water. The carbonic acid partially dissociates, which causes the increase of the concentration of hydrogen ions. Through this the pH of the ocean will start to decrease. The extra hydrogen ions react with carbonate ions, causing it to turn into a bicarbonate instead of carbonate. As the water becomes more acidic a lot of the sea creatures and marine life will start to become affected. Animals with shells, such as oysters, corals, etc., rely on carbonate to make their shells. The decrease in pH levels causes ocean life to not be safe as the waters become more acidic, creating a hazardous environment for the animals to live.

Key Vocabulary

Select a card to reveal its definition.

Buffer solution
Equivalence point
pH
Ka
Henderson-Hasselbalch
Brønsted-Lowry Acid
Main Takeaways
Acids and bases react to form water and salt, neutralizing each other. The pH scale measures the acidity or alkalinity of a substance
Theory of acid and bases: An Arrhenius acid produces H+ ion and an arrhenius base produces OH- ion. Bronsted Lowry acids donates H+ ions, and Bronsted Lowry bases accept OH-. Lewis theory defines acids as electron-pair acceptors and bases as electron-pair donors.
Strength of strong acids and bases: ability to accept or donate protons. Both strong acids and bases dissociate fully in water. Both weak acids and bases partially dissociate in water.
Water can act as both base and acid. Example: H2O+NH3→OH-+NH4+ Water gives H+ to ammonia, ammonia turns into ammonium ion NH4+, and in this case, water acts as an acid Example: H2O+HCl→H3O++Cl- Water accepts H+, which turns into H3O, and in this case water acts as a base
Common Misconceptions
Water is always neutral (pH of 7) At hotter temperatures water dissociates more and there are more ions made which creates a lower pH showing how the neutral pH is not always 7.
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