{"id":211877,"date":"2025-05-05T09:07:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=211877"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:08:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:08:00","slug":"consider-the-following-acids-h2so4-h2so3-and-hno2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/05\/consider-the-following-acids-h2so4-h2so3-and-hno2\/","title":{"rendered":"Consider the following acids: H2SO4, H2SO3 and HNO2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Consider the following acids: H2SO4, H2SO3 and HNO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a. Determine if these are strong or weak acids. How do you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>b. Determine for each acid if it is monoprotic or diprotic. Explain your reasoning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider the following acids: H2SO4, H2SO3 and HNO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a. Determine if these are strong or weak acids. How do you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>b. Determine for each acid if it is monoprotic or diprotic. Explain your reasoning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s the complete and accurate answer with a 300-word explanation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>a. Strength of Acids:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H\u2082SO\u2084 (Sulfuric acid):<\/strong> <strong>Strong acid (first proton)<\/strong><br>Sulfuric acid is a strong acid in its <strong>first dissociation<\/strong> (H\u2082SO\u2084 \u2192 H\u207a + HSO\u2084\u207b), meaning it completely ionizes in water. The second dissociation (HSO\u2084\u207b \u2192 H\u207a + SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b) is <strong>weak<\/strong>, but overall, H\u2082SO\u2084 is classified as a <strong>strong acid<\/strong> due to its complete first ionization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H\u2082SO\u2083 (Sulfurous acid):<\/strong> <strong>Weak acid<\/strong><br>H\u2082SO\u2083 is a <strong>weak acid<\/strong>; it does <strong>not completely ionize<\/strong> in aqueous solution. Both of its protons dissociate only partially, and it is not among the commonly recognized strong acids.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>HNO\u2082 (Nitrous acid):<\/strong> <strong>Weak acid<\/strong><br>HNO\u2082 is a <strong>weak monoprotic acid<\/strong>. It partially dissociates in water and does not fully release its single hydrogen ion (H\u207a).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>b. Protic Nature:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H\u2082SO\u2084:<\/strong> <strong>Diprotic acid<\/strong><br>The formula H\u2082SO\u2084 shows <strong>two hydrogen atoms<\/strong> that can dissociate. Therefore, it&#8217;s a <strong>diprotic acid<\/strong>, capable of donating <strong>two protons (H\u207a)<\/strong> in two steps.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H\u2082SO\u2083:<\/strong> <strong>Diprotic acid<\/strong><br>Similarly, H\u2082SO\u2083 has <strong>two ionizable hydrogen atoms<\/strong>, so it is also <strong>diprotic<\/strong>, though both steps are weak.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>HNO\u2082:<\/strong> <strong>Monoprotic acid<\/strong><br>HNO\u2082 contains <strong>only one ionizable hydrogen atom<\/strong> bonded to oxygen, so it is <strong>monoprotic<\/strong>, meaning it donates <strong>only one proton<\/strong> per molecule.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation (300 words):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acid strength is determined by the degree to which an acid ionizes in solution. Strong acids, such as H\u2082SO\u2084 in its first ionization, completely dissociate in water, releasing all available hydrogen ions. In contrast, weak acids like H\u2082SO\u2083 and HNO\u2082 only partially ionize, establishing an equilibrium between the acid and its ions. This incomplete dissociation results in a lower concentration of free H\u207a ions in solution, characterizing them as weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sulfuric acid (H\u2082SO\u2084) is a notable strong acid due to its complete first dissociation step, which significantly contributes to its acidic strength in solution. Although the second proton is less readily released, the strong initial ionization justifies its classification as a strong acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sulfurous acid (H\u2082SO\u2083), despite being structurally similar to sulfuric acid, is weaker due to the lower oxidation state of sulfur (+4 vs +6 in H\u2082SO\u2084), making the O\u2013H bond less polar and less prone to ionization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nitrous acid (HNO\u2082) is a weak monoprotic acid because it only has one proton that dissociates, and its conjugate base (NO\u2082\u207b) is relatively stable, yet it does not favor full dissociation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Determining whether an acid is monoprotic or diprotic involves analyzing the number of hydrogen ions it can donate. H\u2082SO\u2084 and H\u2082SO\u2083 each contain two acidic hydrogen atoms and can release two protons, making them diprotic. HNO\u2082 contains only one ionizable proton, hence it is monoprotic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary, <strong>H\u2082SO\u2084 is a strong diprotic acid<\/strong>, <strong>H\u2082SO\u2083 is a weak diprotic acid<\/strong>, and <strong>HNO\u2082 is a weak monoprotic acid<\/strong>. Their behavior in water and the number of ionizable hydrogen atoms determine both their strength and protic classification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consider the following acids: H2SO4, H2SO3 and HNO2. a. Determine if these are strong or weak acids. How do you know? b. Determine for each acid if it is monoprotic or diprotic. Explain your reasoning Consider the following acids: H2SO4, H2SO3 and HNO2. a. Determine if these are strong or weak acids. How do you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}