pH scale, neutralisation, ionic theory of acids & alkalis

Doc Brown's Chemistry GCSE/IGCSE ScienceChemistry Revision

Notes

pH scale of acidity and alkalinity, acids, basesalkalis, salts and

neutralisation

2. pH Scale, indicators, acids, alkalis (bases), neutralisation its ionic

theory introduction

This page introduces and explains the pH scale measuring the relative acidity
and alkalinity of aqueous solutions, that is solutions of substances dissolved in
water. The use of indicators is described and several well known indicators
are tabulated showing their different colours in solutions of different pH. The
ionic theory of acids, bases and neutralisation is simply described and why
explains why solutions are either acid, neutral or alkaline. These revision
notes on the pH scale and the ionic theory of neutralisation of acids and
alkalis should prove useful for the new AQA chemistry, Edexcel chemistry &
OCR chemistry GCSE (91, 9-5 & 5-1) science courses.

GCSE/IGCSE Acid & Alkalis revision notes subindex: Index of all pH,
Acids, Alkalis, Salts Notes 1. Examples of everyday acids, alkalis, salts,
pH of solution, hazard warning signs : 2. pH scale, indicators, ionic
theory of acidsalkali neutralisation : 4. Reactions of acids with
metals/oxides/hydroxides/carbonates, neutralisation reactions :
5.Reactions of basesalkalis like ammonia & sodium hydroxide : 6. Four
methods of making salts : 7. Changes in pH in a neutralisation, choice
and use of indicators : 8. Important formulae of compounds, salt
solubility and water of crystallisation : 10. More on AcidBase Theory
and Weak and Strong Acids

See also Advanced Level Chemistry Students AcidBase Revision

Notes use index

2. The pH scale, indicators acids, alkalis (bases), neutralisation & ionic

theory
 2a. Introduction to the pH scale What is the pH scale?

The colours observed in solutions when universal indicator is added

The pH scale is a measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity of a

solution (see diagram).
o So, knowing the pH of a solution, you know how acid or alkaline it
is by reference to the pH scale (diagram above) or whether the
solution is neutral.
o The smaller the pH number, the more acid it is, the greater the pH
number, the more alkaline it is, and if the pH is close to 7, you
have a more or less neutral solution that has neither acidic or
alkaline chemical properties.
o Lots of examples of solution pH values are tabulated with
everyday examples of acid/alkaline chemistry are described
in section 1.
pH can be approximately measured using indicator solution by putting
a few drops of universal indicator into a solution and comparing the
colour formed with a standard chart (picture above).
You can also used paper impregnated with an indicator solution (pH
paper), the paper is dipped in the solution and again the colour
matched with a pH chart.
o This is quite handy for testing soil mixed and shaken with water.
o You can get special soil testing kits which use indicator solution
and the colour of the indicator in the water is matched with a chart
after the soil has settled out.
pH can be very accurately measured with a special instrument called
a pH meter using a glass electrode probe which is calibrated with
standard buffer solutions of accurately known pH (see photographs and
note at the end of the page).
WHAT IS AN INDICATOR?
An indicator is a dye substance or mixture of coloured substances
that when added to the solution gives a different colour depending
on the pH of the solution.
 o Universal indicator solution or paper, is prepared from mixing
several indicators to give a variety of colours to match a wide
range of pH values from very acid to very alkaline.
o The mixture of dyes responds to changes in pH, so depending on
what the pH is, i.e. how acid, how alkaline or neutral the solution
is, the indicator tells which it is.
Not only that, an indicator like universal indicator' can tell
you how strongly acid or strongly alkaline the solution is by
giving you the pH to about the nearest indicator.
A calibrated instrument called a pH meter can give the pH
to two decimal places.
pH meters are calibrated using buffer
solutions which have an accurately known pH.
o It is a very handy indicator for showing whether the solution is
very weakly/strongly acidic (pH <7) or alkaline (pH >
7) or neutral (pH = 7) and gives the pH to the nearest pH unit.

o
o The diagram above gives the sort of range of colours you get from
using universal indicator, which is a complex mixture of different
dye molecules that respond to changes in pH.
Theoretically there is no limit to the pH scale, but most solutions are
between pH 0 and pH 14.
o For example, looking at the 'extremes', 1M hydrochloric acid (HCl)
has a pH of 0 and 10M HCl has a pH of 1 and these would be
described as strongly acidic solutions.
o 1M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) has a pH of 14, but 10M potassium
hydroxide (KOH) has a pH of 15 and these would be described as
strongly alkaline solutions.
o The closer the pH is to 7, the less strong is the acid or alkali.
o However the solubility limits of substances in water ensures that
its almost impossible to get below 1 or above 15 and most
laboratory measurements will be in the range pH 1 to pH 14

Note 1: M is the old shorthand for solubility in mol/litre or mol dm3.

Note 2: The pH scale is known as a logarithmic scale of base 10.
 o At GCSE/IGCSE level, to put it more simply, a change of one pH
unit means a 10x change in the acidity or alkalinity of the solution
e.g. from pH 5 to pH 2 means an increase in acidity of
1000x
or to change from pH 13 to pH 11 means to become 100x
less alkaline.).

Other common indicators used in the laboratory often used in

titrations e.g. salt preparation (a)

colour in neutral
Indicator colour in acid pH<7 colour in alkali pH >7
pH=7
litmus red 'purple' blue
phenolphthalein* colourless colourless >9 pink
<3.5 red, orange
methyl orange* about pH 5, > 6 yellow yellow
yellow
<5 red, orange, >6
methyl red* yellow yellow
yellow
bromothymol
<6 yellow green >8 blue
blue*

2b. Introduction to AcidBase (including Alkalis) Theory including

Neutralisation

Water is a neutral liquid with a pH of 7 (green with universal

indicator).
When a substance dissolves in water it forms an aqueous (aq) solution
that may be acidic, neutral or alkaline.
Acidic solutions have a pH of less than 7, and the lower the number,
the stronger the acid it, or the more acidic the solution.
o The colour can range from orangeyellow (pH 36) for partially
ionised weak acids like ethanoic acid (vinegar) and carbonated
water.
o Strong acids like hydrochloric, sulphuric and nitric are fully
ionised and give a pH 1 or less and a red colour with universal
indicator or litmus paper.
 Neutral solutions have a pH of 7. These are quite often solutions
of salts, which are themselves formed from neutralising acids and
bases.
The 'opposite' of an acid is called a base. Some bases are
soluble in water to give alkaline solutions these are known as
alkalis.
Alkaline solutions have a pH of over 7 and the higher the pH the
stronger is the alkali, the more alkaline is the solution.
o Weak alkalis (soluble bases) like ammonia give a pH of 1011 but
strong alkalis (soluble bases) like sodium hydroxide give a pH of
1314.
o Alkalis give bluepurpleviolet colour with universal
indicator or litmus paper.
NEUTRALISATION usually involves mixing an acid (pH <7) with
a base or alkali (pH > 7) which react to form aneutral SALT solution
of pH ~7
o in general the word equation for a neutralisation reaction is
ACID + BASE/ALKALI ===> SALT + WATER
An alkali is a soluble base, an insoluble base is NOT an
alkali.
All bases, soluble or insoluble reaction with acids in a
neutralisation reaction to form a salt like compound.

2c. More advanced AcidBase Theory

THE IONIC THEORY of ACIDS and ALKALIS a brief introduction

and a few technical terms
o The proton (H+) donationacceptance theory of acids and
bases (BronstedLowry) is covered in Section 10.
Part 10 "More on acidbase theory",
but here, I'm explaining the theory in the simplest way with
the minimum of detail.
Ions are charged particles that carry an overall net positive
electric charge e.g. 2+, +, or 2 etc.
 When a substance dissolves in water the total number of
positive charges on the positive ions must equal the total
number of negative charges on the negative ions.
o Acids are substances that form hydrogen ions, H+(aq), when
dissolved in water e.g.
hydrochloric acid HCl gives H+(aq) and Cl(aq) ions in water.
(aqueous solution of hydrogen ions and chloride
ions, pH reduced to <7)
sulfuric/sulphuric acid H2SO4 gives 2H+(aq) and SO42
(aq) ions in water.
(aqueous solution of hydrogen ions and sulfate ions,
pH reduced to <7)
nitric acid HNO3 gives H+(aq) and NO3(aq) ions in water.
(aqueous solution of hydrogen ions and nitrate ions)
o Alkalis are substances that form hydroxide ions (OH(aq)) in
water e.g.
sodium hydroxide NaOH gives Na+(aq) and OH(aq) ions in
water.
(aqueous solution of sodium ions and hydroxide
ions, pH increased to >7)
calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 gives Ca2+(aq) and 2OH
(aq) ions in water.
(aqueous solution of calcium ions and hydroxide
ions, pH increased to >7))
Note that an alkali is a base soluble in water.
An insoluble base like copper(II) oxide, CuO, will
NOT affect the pH of water (pH 7 neutral), i.e. it will
not cause the formation of either hydrogen ions or
hydroxide ions on mixing with water BUT it will still
neutralise acids in forming a soluble salt.
o The majority of liquid water consists of covalent H2O molecules,
but there are trace quantities of H+ and OHions from the self
ionisation of water,
H2O(l) H+(aq) + OH(aq)
Only about 1 in 200 million water molecules does
this!, the reaction is reversible (hence the sign), so
the longer halfarrow to the left tells you that most
water remains as water molecules!
Also note that hydrogen ion is sometimes described
as a proton.
 BUT, logically, this means that the hydrogen ion
concentration must equal the hydroxide ion concentration,
so they are of equal concentration and so water is neutral
at pH 7.
o In acid solutions there are more H+ ions than OH ions, so an
excess of hydrogen ions makes the solution acidic with a pH of
less than 7.
o In alkali solutions there are more OH ions than H+ ions, so an
excess of hydroxide ions makes the solution an alkaline with a pH
of over 7.
o When alkalis and acids react, the 'general word' or 'molecular
formula' equation might be forNEUTRALISATION ...
ACID + ALKALI ==> SALT + WATER
e.g.
hydrochloric acid + sodium hydroxide ==> sodium
chloride + water
HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) ==> NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)
BUT the ionic equation for ANY neutralisation involving
the reaction between an acid and alkali is
hydrogen ion + hydroxide ion ==> water
H+(aq) + OH(aq) ==> H2O(l)
Because all acids form hydrogen ions in water and all
alkalis (soluble bases) form hydroxide ions in water.
So the 'acidic' hydrogen ions cancel out the 'alkaline'
hydroxide ions by combining to form neutral water,
AND give a neutral solution of a salt.
and, in this case, the remaining ions e.g. sodium Na+(aq) and
chloride Cl(aq) become the salt crystals of sodium
chloride NaCl(s) on evaporating the water.
So the salt is formed from the residual ions when all
the hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions have reacted.
In this simple case the sodium ions and chloride ions
don't take part in the reaction and are known as
spectator ions.
BUT, on evaporation of the solution, the sodium ions
and chloride ions will come together and crystallise
out of solution as the 'salt' sodium chloride.
o BASES e.g. oxides, hydroxides and carbonates, are
substances that react and neutralise acids to form salts and
water.
 Bases which are soluble in water are called alkalis e.g.
NaOH sodium hydroxide, KOH potassium
hydroxide or Ca(OH)2 calcium hydroxide.
The reaction described above is a simple and good
example of an acid neutralising an alkali.
Bases which are water insoluble include CuO copper(II)
oxide, MgO magnesium oxide and these will also react
and dissolve in acids to form salt solutions e.g.
ACID + BASE ==> SALT + WATER
copper oxide + sulfuric acid ==> copper sulfate +
water
H2SO4(aq) + CuO(s) ==> CuSO4(aq) + H2O(l)
o After a neutralisation, the salt solutions consist of a mixture of
positive and negative ions (and their names are in the salt name!)
e.g.
sodium chloride (NaCl) is a mixture of Na+ and Cl ions in
the ratio 1:1 (from hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide)
calcium chloride (CaCl2) is a mix of Ca2+ and Cl ions of
ratio 1:2 (from hydrochloric acid and calcium
oxide/hydroxide)
magnesium nitrate (Mg(NO3)2) is a mix of Mg2+ and
NO3 ions in the ratio 1:2 (from nitric acid and magnesium
oxide/hydroxide)
aluminium sulphate (Al2(SO4)3) consists of Al3+ and
SO42 ions in the ratio 2:3 (from sulfuric acid and aluminium
oxide/hydroxide)
and when the water is evaporated the oppositely
charged ions combine to form the crystalline
salt (names above).
Important NOTE on the pH Scale

(i) pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration

The lower the pH, the higher the hydrogen ion concentration, the
more acid the solution.

I know this seems confusing, but that's the way the pH scale has
been defined historically.

(ii) Each pH unit change is equivalent to a 10x change in

concentration of the hydrogen ion
 For example changing the pH of a solution from pH 4 to pH 3
makes the solution 10x more acidic.

Changing a solution's pH from 4 to 6 makes it 100x less acidic (10

x 10).

Simple neutralisation experiments

o (1) Starting with 25-50 cm3 of a dilute alkali solution (e.g. sodium
hydroxide), add some universal indicator solution (blue-violet in
excess alkali). Add slowly in small portions, until in excess, a
dilute acid solution of similar concentration (e.g. hydrochloric
acid). The colour will change from blue to green (neutral) to red
(excess acid), with other colours in between. You can follow the
rise in pH with a colour chart, or you use universal indicator paper
or a pH meter instead of the universal indicator solution.
o (2) Starting with 25-50 cm3 of a dilute hydrochloric acid solution,
add powdered calcium oxide (lime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked
lime) in small portions at a time. Again, follow the pH as it rises
from pH 0-1 to pH 7 (neutralised) and then rising to ~pH with
excess of the calcium oxide/hydroxide alkali.
See section 7. Changes in pH in a neutralisation reaction, choice
and use of indicators
GCSE/IGCSE chemistry higher level notes for the advanced
proton/hydrogen ion theory of acids and bases (BronstedLowry
theory

APPENDIX - ACCURATELY MEASURING THE pH OF A SOLUTION

 You can measure the pH of a solution very accurately using a pH meter and a glass
membrane pH probe.

The pH meter is calibrated against a standard buffer solution of accurately known pH