Lesson 7: Acid & Base Equilibria and Strength

In this lesson we continue our discussion of acids and bases. We'll be concerned with the relative strength of various acids and bases, how that is expressed, and how it relates to the position of equilibrium in an acid-base reaction. We'll also be concerned with a reaction called hydrolysis, in which an ion reacts with water to create an acidic or basic solution, and with the chemistry of buffer solutions, which have the ability to keep the pH of a solution roughly constant.

This week your lab experiment involves titration again. This time, however, we'll use titration as a way to explore acid-base equilibria rather than to determine concentration. The titration itself does not take quite as long as last week's experiment, but you should allow at least one hour to collect the data and an equal amount of time to analyze the data. I recommend that you do your analysis in the lab so that you can ask questions of the lab instructor.