Topic 4 - Chemical Changes Flashcards
What do acids produce in aqueous solutions?
Acids produce hydrogen ions (H+) in aqueous solutions.
What do alkalis produce in aqueous solutions?
Aqueous solutions of alkalis contain hydroxide ions (OH–).
What is the pH scale and how can it be measured?
The pH scale, from 0 to 14, is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, and can be measured using universal indicator or a pH probe.
What do the different numbers of pH scale mean?
- A solution with pH 7 is neutral.
- Aqueous solutions of acids have pH values of less than 7.
- Aqueous solutions of alkalis have pH values greater than 7.
How does an indicator work in terms of pH?
An indicator is a dye that changes colour depending on whether it’s above or below a certain pH.
What is a wide range indicator and why are they useful?
Some indicators contain a mixture of dyes that means they gradually change colour over a broad range of pHs. These are called wide range indicators and they’re useful for estimating the pH of a solution, for example Universal indicator.
How do universal indicators work?
Acid = red = 0
neutral = green = 7
Alkaline = pink/purple = 14
These are the extreme colours on the scale.
How do pH probes work?
- A pH probe attached to a pH meter can measure pH electronically.
- The probe is placed in the solution you are measuring, and the pH is given on a digital display as a numerical value, meaning its more accurate than an indicator.
What is a neutralisation reaction and what is the general equation?
An acid will react with an alkali to form a salt and water.
acid + alkali => salt + water
What is a neutralisation reaction in terms of H+ and OH- ions and what is the equation?
In neutralisation reactions between an acid and an alkali, hydrogen ions react with hydroxide ions to produce water.
H+(aq) + OH-(aq) => H(2)O(l)
What is a titration?
A titration is an experiment that lets you see what volume of a reactant is needed to react completely with a certain volume of another reactant. For example, you can use a titration to find out exactly how much acid is needed to neutralise a certain quantity of alkali or vice versa. You can also use the results of a titration to find the concentration of one of the reactants.
What is the 12 step method for the titration practical?
- Use a pipette with a pipette filler to measure out a volume of alkali.
- Put the alkali in a flask with a few drops of indicator.
- Using a funnel, fill a burette with some acid of a known concentration. Run a small amount through the tap, then turn the tap off. Place the flask containing the alkali under the burette.
- Take a reading of the volume of acid in the burette by reading off the value where the acid touches the scale.
- The first titration you do should be a rough titration. This helps to make your final results more accurate by giving you an approximate idea of how much acid is needed to neutralise the alkali. Add the acid to the alkali a bit at a time, giving the flask a regular swirl.
- The indicator changes colour when all the alkali has been neutralised. This is the end-point of the reaction.
- Record the volume of acid left in the burette.
- Calculate the amount of acid that was needed to neutralise the alkali by subtracting the initial reading of acid in the burette from the final reading of acid in the burette. This is your rough titre.
- Now do an accurate titration. Take an initial reading of how much acid is in the burette. Then run the acid in to within 2 cm of the end point.
Continue to add the acid drop by drop - you need to spot exactly when the colour of the indicator changes for your result to be accurate. - Record the amount of acid left in the burette at the end-point of the titration and use this, along with the initial reading, to calculate the volume of acid used to neutralise the alkali.
- Repeat the process of making an accurate titration a few times, until you have at least three results that are within 0.10 cm(3) of each other.
- Calculate the mean volume of acid that was needed to neutralise the alkali, ignoring the rough titre and any anomalous results.
What are single indicators?
Indicators that only contain one colour changing compound, so has one distinct colour change at a particular pH.
What is the colour change for methyl orange in an alkali to neutral titration?
- Methyl orange is yellow in alkalis and red in acids.
- If there’s methyl orange and an alkali in the flask at the beginning of the titration, the solution will be yellow.
- When all of the alkali has reacted with the acid that’s added, the indicator will turn red - end point.
What are the main hazards in titrations?
The acids and the alkalis.
What happens when acids are added to an aqueous solution/water?
They ionise to produce H+ ions.
What is dissociation?
The breaking up of a molecule into ions when dissolved in water.
What does the strength of an acid tell you? (3)
- How strong or weak an acid is tells you what proportion of the acid molecules ionise in water.
- It also tells you the proportion of acid particles that will dissociate to produce H+ ions.
- Strong acids have a higher proportion than weak acids.
What happens to strong acids in aqueous solutions?
A strong acid is completely ionised in aqueous solution - all the particles dissociate to release H+ ions.
What are some examples of strong acids?
Examples of strong acids are hydrochloric, nitric and sulfuric acids.
What happens to weak acids in aqueous solutions?
A weak acid is only partially ionised in aqueous solution.
What are some examples of weak acids?
Examples of weak acids are ethanoic, citric and carbonic acids.
What kind of reaction is ionisation of a weak acid?
A reversible reaction, which sets up an equilibrium between the undissociated and dissociated acid.
What is the effect of acid strength on reactivity?
- If the concentration of H+ ions is higher, the rate of reaction will be faster.
- Since strong acids dissociate more than weak acids, a strong acid will be more reactive than a weak acid of the same concentration.
What is the effect of acid strength on pH? (2)
- For a given concentration of aqueous solutions, the stronger an acid, the lower the pH.
- As the pH decreases by one unit, the hydrogen ion concentration of the solution increases by a factor of 10.
How can you calculate the change in H+ concentration?
Factor H+ ion concentration changes by = 10 to the power of (- difference in pH)
What does the concentration of acid tell you?
Concentration measures the total number of dissolved acid molecules there are in a certain volume of water, not the number of molecules that are ionised to produce hydrogen ions at any given moment - basically tells you how watered down the acid is.
What does the reaction of a metal and acid produce?
acid + metal => salt + hydrogen
How can you see how reactive different metals are? What is the speed of the reaction indicated by? (3)
- By monitoring the rate of hydrogen production when they react with an acid.
- The more reactive the metal, the faster the reaction - more rapid production of hydrogen bubbles.
- The speed of the reaction is indicated by the rate at which hydrogen bubbles are given off.
What are some examples of very reactive metals and how do they react with acids?
Potassium, sodium, lithium and calcium react explosively.
What are some examples of less reactive metals and how do they react with acids?
Magnesium, zinc and iron react less violently. Copper won’t react with cold, dilute acids.
How can the production of hydrogen be tested?
Putting a lit splint at the mouth of the tube containing the acid and metal. If its positive you hear a ‘squeaky pop’ - louder = more reactive.