How can you Understand the Acids, Bases, and Salts?

Many acids and bases occur naturally in nature such as citric acid in fruits like oranges, lemons, etc. The tartaric acid in tamarind, malic acid in apples, etc. The same goes for the bases like lime water, silicate, etc. We normally use many of the acids and bases in our daily life like vinegar, boric acid for laundry, and baking soda for baking purposes. The chemical properties of acids and bases are completely opposite to each other.
The common things in all acids and all bases are that they have the H+ and OH ions in their water solution. The acid solutions or base solutions that are strong have more and more H+ and OH respectively in their solutions. When the acid and salts combine together they produce the salts. More about salts are required to know their properties as they have positive ions from the acids and negative ions from the bases like NaCl, Na2SO4, and Ca(OH)2, etc.

Acids Bases and Salts

Definition of Acid, Bases, and Salts:

Acid:

Acid is a substance whose water solution tastes sour and turns blue litmus to red and neutralizes the bases.

Examples:
  • Hydrofluoric acid: HF
  • Hydrochloric acid: HCl
  • Hydrobromic acid: HBr
  • Hydroiodic acid: HI
  • Hydrogen sulfide: H2S
  • (Hydrosulphuric acid) H2SO4

Bases:

Bases are the substances that turn the red litmus blue and their water solution tastes bitter and neutralizes the acids.

Examples:
  • Sodium oxide Na2O
  • Potassium oxide K2O
  • Calcium oxide CaO
  • Sodium hydroxide NaOH
  • Potassium hydroxide KOH
  • Calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2

Salts:

It is a neutralizing substance and its aqueous solution has no effect on the litmus paper.

Examples:
  • Sodium chloride NaCl
  • Magnesium sulfate MgSO4
  • Calcium carbonate CaCo3
  • Sodium nitrate NaNO3
  • Aluminum sulfate Al3(SO4)3

Physical Properties of the Acids:

There are certain physical properties of the acids:

  • Acids are Sour in taste in an aqueous solution
  • Acids like (HCl, HNO3, and H2SO4) are highly corrosive and are also known to be mineral acids.
  • Acids turn the blue litmus paper into red

Chemical Properties of the Acids:

  • The Acids neutralize bases to produce salt and water when reacting with the bases
  • Most Acids react with active metals to produce hydrogen.
  • Acids react with the acids to produce the salts like NaCl, CaCO3, etc.

Physical Properties of Bases:

There are the following properties of the bases:

  • Bases are Bitter in taste in an aqueous solution.
  • The Caustic alkalis (KOH, NaOH) are highly corrosive, and avoid touching them naked-handed.
  • Bases Turn red litmus blue

Chemical Properties of Bases:

The chemical properties of the bases are as follows:

  • Most Alkalis react with ammonium salts on heating to produce the ammonia NH3 gas.
  • Alkalis do react with certain metallic salt solutions to produce insoluble hydroxides OH ions.
  • Alkalis react with the acids to produce the salts like NaCl, CaCO3, etc.

The chemical properties of acids and bases are quite opposite to each other as the acid produces the H+ ions and Bases produced the OH ions when dissolved in the water solution.

More About Acids, Bases, and Salts

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