Investigative Question: What is an Acid-Base Reaction?

Lewis Salada 16 December, 2011 Ms. Norris Science Research Paper

I conducted research on What is an Acid-Base Reaction? and I also researched the background information of What is a Chemical Reaction?, What is an Acid and what is a Base?. All of the information that I researched is directly related to my Investigative Question. I plan to provide a short summary of the background information as a lead in to my main research. What is a Chemical Reaction? A Chemical Reaction is when multiple molecules interact and make a reaction. What kind of molecules they are, how do they interact, and what happens all determine the type of chemical reaction. Chemical reactions are modifications in the makeup of molecules. These reactions can produce molecules that attach to each other and form larger molecules, molecules that break apart to form multiple smaller molecules, or relocation of atoms within molecules. Chemical reactions are usually hard to reverse (Cooking an egg, burning paper or the rusting of iron). Chemical reactions result in the production one or more new products with unique properties. The chemicals that react in a reaction are called the reactants and the chemicals that are produced are called the products. In all chemical reactions reactants are transformed into products by the rearrangement of atoms. An Acid-Base reaction is a type of chemical reaction.

What is an Acid and what is a Base? Its been a long time that people have known that vinegar, lemon juice and many other foods taste sour. It wasnt until a few hundred years ago that it was discovered why things taste sour, because they are all acids. The term acid, in fact, comes from the Latin word acere, which means "sour". In the seventeenth century, the chemist Robert Boyle first labeled substances as either acids or bases, he called bases alkalies, according to their characteristics. Some traits of acids are that they taste sour, are cutting to metals, and will change litmus (a dye extracted from lichens) red. Some traits of bases are that they feel slippery, change litmus blue, and become less basic when mixed with acids. In 1909, the Danish biochemist Sren Srensen invented the pH scale for measuring acidity. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. Substances with a pH between 0 and less than 7 are acids (pH and Hydrogen (H+) are inversely related) and the lower pH means higher Hydrogen (H+). Substances with a pH greater than 7 and up to 14 are bases and the higher pH means lower Hydrogen (H+). Right in the middle, at pH = 7, are neutral substances, for example, pure water. The relationship between Hydrogen (H+) and pH is shown in Figure 1. along with some common examples of acids and bases in everyday life. Every liquid you see will probably have either acidic or basic traits. One exception might be distilled water. Distilled water is just water, that's it. The positive and negative ions in distilled water are in equal amounts and cancel each other out. Most water you drink has ions in it. The ions in a solution make something acidic or basic. In every persons body there are small compounds called amino acids. Those are acids. In fruits there is something called citric acid. That's an acid, too. And what about vinegar? Its an acid. Now what about baking soda? When you put that in water, it creates a basic resolution.

What is an Acid Base Reaction? Acids are compounds that break into hydrogen (H+) ions and another compound when placed in a water based solution. Bases are compounds that break up into hydroxide (OH-) ions and another compound when placed in a water based solution. If you have an ionic compound and you put it in water, it will break apart into two ions. If one of those ions is H+, the solution is acidic. If one of the ions is OH-, the solution is basic. There are also other ions that make acidic and basic solutions. The pH scale mentioned earlier is actually a measure of the number of H+ ions in a solution. If there are a lot of H+ ions, the pH is going to be very low. If there are a lot of OH- ions, that means the number of H+ ions is going to be very low, so the pH is high. A liquid with high levels of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) can be dangerous and very basic because when the Na-OH bond breaks in a solution you have sodium ions (+) and hydroxide ions (-). The sodium ions don't really pose a danger in solutions, but there are a large number of hydroxide ions in solutions compared to the hydrogen ions. All of those excess OH- ions make the pH super-high and the solution will readily react with many compounds. The same thing happens on a less dangerous scale when you add baking soda to water. OH- ions are released in the solution. The numbers of OH- are greater than the H+ and the pH decreases. The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly disbands into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing and bubbles as it escapes the solution.

[H+] 1 X 100 1 x 10-1 1 x 10-2 Acids 1 x 10-3 1 x 10-4 1 x 10-5 1 x 10-6 Neutral 1 x 10-7 1 x 10-8 1 x 10-9

pH Example 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HCl Stomach acid Lemon juice Vinegar Soda Rainwater Milk Pure water Egg whites Baking soda Tums antacid Ammonia Mineral lime - Ca(OH)2 Drano NaOH

1 x 10-10 10 Bases 1 x 10-11 11 1 x 10-12 12 1 x 10-13 13 1 x 10-14 14

Figure 1. Common Acids and Bases pH Levels 4

References 1. Andrew Rader. 2011. Chemical Reactions. Raders Chem4Kids.com. Retrieved from http://www.chem4kids.com/files/react_intro.html. 2. Chemical Reaction. 2011. kids.net.au. Retrieved from http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ch/Chemical_reaction. 3. What is a Chemical Reaction? Chemistry For Kids. Retrieved from http://www.chemistryforkids.net/help/what-is-a-chemical-reaction. 4. Anthony Carpi, Ph.D. 2003. Acids and Bases - An Introduction. Visionlearning. Retrieved from http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=58. 5. Editors of Publications International. 2011. Science Projects for Kids: Chemical Reactions. TLC A Discovery Company. Retrieved from http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/science-projects-for-kids-chemical-reactions6.htm.