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Weak Acid

Weak acids are acids that do not fully ionize in solution. In other words, if you dissolved a portion of a weak acid in water, only a small portion of it would dissolve into H+ ions and negative ions; the rest would remain undissolved in the solution.

Ka is a measurement of how much of an acid dissolves. A high Ka value means that more H+ is likely to be formed. Lower Ka values mean that less will be formed. Weak acids typically have a Ka between 1.8 x 10-16 and 55.5. Less than that, and they are weaker ionizers than water is. More, and you have an acid that almost completely ionizes in solution. Most acids are weak acids.

It is completely possible to have a strong concentration of a weak acid. The weak acid's Ka is determined by the proportion of ionization that occurs in solution, not by how many ions are loose in the solution. A stronger concentration simply has more of the acid in it.


Web Resources On Weak Acid

Titration of Weak Acids with Strong Bases
Acid-Base Chemistry


Book Resources On Weak Acid

Determining the Dissociation Constant of a Weak Acid Using Ph Measurements by Donald C. Raney, M. L. Gillette, H. Anthony Neidig
Determiming the Equivalant Mass and Dissociation Constant of an Unknown Weak Acid by Dan Stafford

Related Topics

Weak Base

Amino Acid

Phosphate


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