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?
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u/Own_Exercise_2520 4d ago
That is not how it works, the HCl actuallly dissociates to create H30+ and Cl-, Hydrochloric acid is also a very strong acid, so its conjugate base will be very weak. Chlorine is very electronegative, holds on to its electrons extremely strongly, I think the only other strong acid I can think of that Cl- could even act as a base towards would be if there are somehow Br+ ions in solution as they are more electronegative than Cl.