WEEK 6 - General Chemistry I reply 1

Please reply to the following discussion. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion.  Responses must consist of at least 135 words; do NOT repeat the same thing your classmate is saying. No reference is required.   

Z.A

Acid according to Chapter 7, is a substance that will dissolve in water to yield hydronium ions. Acids may be classified as strong (fully react with water) or weak (partially react with water) based on generation of hydronium ions. An everyday example of an acid that comes to mind is that of citric acid from fruits like lemons. This is a weak and organic acid, although I would originally assume it would be a strong acid based on eating lemons (which I love!).

Base according to Chapter 7, is a substance that dissolves in water to yield hydroxide ions. Bases may be classified as strong (completely dissociate in water) or weak (partially dissociate in water). An everyday example of a base is baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. This makes sense to me as I know you can utilize baking soda to subdue acids when cooking.

For both acids and bases, I recall that they are scaled on pH ranging from 1 (Acidic) to 14 (Basic) with 7 being the median (Neutral). For my current work as an RN, I often assess the pH or the CO2/HCO3 level of a patient to figure out if they are respiratory or metabolically acidotic or alkalotic (basic) to guide treatment.