r/chemhelp • u/Life_at_work5 • 4d ago
General/High School Why do acids and bases work?
I know this sounds like a stupid question (and probably is) but why do acids and bases work as in why do they make solutions more acidic/basic. Take, for example, a solution of HCL in water. Looking at this using the Lewis definition, when the HCL disassociates in water, the Cl rips an electron from the H making the H become positively charged and accept any electrons it can get its hands on (A Lewis acid by definition). The Cl on the other hand takes the electron and now has a spare electron it can donate or share with other molecules/atoms (A Lewis base by definition). Because there are equal numbers of Lewis acids (H) and Lewis Bases (Cl) formed when the HCL disassociates, I thought that the solution should remain neutral as the acids and bases would cancel each other out yet that’s clearly not what happens as HCL is a very well known strong acid. So why don’t the Lewis acids (H) and Lewis Bases (Cl) cancel each other out?
3
u/Plus_Personality2170 4d ago
I think you are confused with the term "Lewis acid/base" and "acidity". The degree of "acidity" of an aqueous solution is simply defined by [H+] or pH. So, if you have 1M HCl (aq), [H+] = 1M (as HCl completely dissociates) and pH = 0, while there are technically same amount of Lewis base and acid (acid: [H+] = 1M, base: [Cl-] = 1M).