15 3 Definitions of Acids and Bases THE ARRHENIUS DEFINITION An Arrhenius Acid is a substance that produces H ions HCl aq H aq Cl aq An Arrhenius Base is a substance that produces OH ions NaOH aq Na aq OH aq THE BRONSTED LOWRY DEFINITION A Bronsted Lowry Acid is a proton donor HCl aq H2O l H3O aq Cl aq The HCl is donating an H ion to H2O which makes it the acid The water is accepting that proton from HCl making it the base A Bronsted Lowry Base is a proton acceptor aq OH NH3 aq H2O l NH4 aq The NH3 is accepting an H ion from H2O which makes it the base The water is donating that proton to NH3 making it the base Water is an Amphoteric Substance a substance that can act as an acid or a base depending on what it comes in contact with In an acid base reaction the acid is converted into a conjugate base and the base is converted into a conjugate acid In simpler terms the conjugate base is what the acid will become in the products after it reacts and the conjugate acid is what the base will become in the products after it reacts These are known as conjugate pairs
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