How can you tell conjugate acid and base pairs apart?

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 6, 2016

By adding or subtracting #H^+#.........

Explanation:

By adding or subtracting #H^+# and conserving mass and charge. The conjugate base of any acid, #HA#, is #A^-#, and the conjugate acid of any base #HA# is #H_2A^+#. In both these instances MASS and CHARGE have been conserved.

It is trivial to determine the conjugate base of #HX#, i.e. it is the original acid LESS a proton, i.e. #X^-#. And the conjugate acid of #HX# is #H_2X^+#. For both examples we started with a definite substance, here #HX#, to which we added or subtracted #H^+#.

Can you tell me the conjugate acid and conjugate base of sulfuric acid, #H_2SO_4#?

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