Which is the stronger acid in each of the following pair #HBrO_2# or #HBrO#?

1 Answer
Ernest Z.
Jul 31, 2015

#"HBrO"_2# is the stronger acid.

Explanation:

For oxyacids with the same central atom, the acidity increases as the number of atoms bonded to the central atom increases.

Thus, we predict that #"HBrO"_2# should be a stronger acid than #"HBrO"#.

This is confirmed by their #K_"a"# values .

#"HBrO"_2# has #K_a = 1.2 × 10^-5#, while #"HBrO"# has #K_a = 2 × 10^-9#.

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