Acids and Bases by Connor

Acids and bases are commonly used in chemistry, but they are found in other places. Places like your house or workplace all have acids and bases. Fruits and juices are acidic, and soap and detergent are basic. Acids and bases are categorized by many things. Acids are sour tasting, yet bases are bitter. A quick note, you should never taste acids or bases found in a chemistry lab because this can lead to bodily harm. Acids are the solution of a hydrogen ion, and bases are the solution of a hydroxide ion. They both conduct electricity, so they are both electrolytes. 

Acids, as many can tell by their name, are corrosive, but bases are also corrosive. Bases have a slippery, or soapy feel to them. A scientist named Johannes Nicolaus Bronsted created a theory about the classification of acids and bases. In this theory, it said that acids were H+ donors, or hydrogen ion donors, while bases were H+ acceptors. This theory was a far better one for classification because it was much broader than the Arrhenius theory beforehand, which didn’t apply to all acids or bases.

            There is a scale called the pH scale, which measures how strong an acid or base is. The scale goes from 0-14, with acids being 0-6 and bases being 8-14. The only spot that was excluded was 7 because pure water is neutral. Now, acids and bases are labeled strong or weak. They aren’t labeled weak because they have less affect or anything, but because they are less willing to: give H+ if an acid, or take H+ if a base. Another neat thing I learned about acids and bases is that they counteract each other. When combined, the two counteract one another, yet some have bigger counteractions than others. A question to take away from this could be ‘how many acids and bases do I have at my house alone?’ Finally, what I find most interesting about this topic is discovering that the juices I drink are acidic, and that I’m constantly drinking acids.