The Student Room Group

Couple of c3 questions

Really struggling on this part of the course, from my homework

How would you describe and give the results of an experiment to show that citric acid is a weaker acid than hydrochloride acid at the same concentration?

Why does citric acid behave as an acid? Using Arrhenius and Bronsted-Lowrys ideas
Reply 1
Original post by Leelad
Really struggling on this part of the course, from my homework

How would you describe and give the results of an experiment to show that citric acid is a weaker acid than hydrochloride acid at the same concentration?

Why does citric acid behave as an acid? Using Arrhenius and Bronsted-Lowrys ideas


Both are Bronsted-Lowey acids as can donate protons (H+).

HCl is a stronger acid, this means that it completely breaks up into its ions (H+ and Cl-), whereas citric acid is a weak acid so is only partially broken up into its ions. This means there are less H+ in the solution of citric acid, less H+ means less collisions, so lower rate.

The experiment would perhaps involve reacting both acids with sodium carbonate and measuring the volume of gas given off every few seconds over perhaps a minute using a gas syringe. The HCl will release more gas than the citric acid per 10 seconds due to the increased rate.

I hope that makes sense.

Quick Reply

Latest