Is water an acid or a base?
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 28 Apr 18:59
https://mander.xyz/post/28959611

#science_memes

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I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org on 28 Apr 19:36 next collapse

Yes

Una@europe.pub on 28 Apr 19:38 next collapse

Ah yes amphoteric compounds

Geodad@lemm.ee on 28 Apr 19:40 next collapse

Considering that water autoionizes, yes - it is both an acid and a base.

Natanael@infosec.pub on 28 Apr 23:44 collapse

Inclusive or

lugal@sopuli.xyz on 28 Apr 19:53 next collapse

Is this about the anomaly of water? I vaguely remember it from school

Una@europe.pub on 28 Apr 20:31 collapse

No, this is about water being amphoteric compound meaning it behaves like a acid or base in different circumstances.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphoterism

barsoap@lemm.ee on 28 Apr 21:31 next collapse

The water molecule is amphoteric in aqueous solution

A water molecule in aqueous solution. How can you tell it’s being dissolved, or doing the dissolving?

prex@aussie.zone on 28 Apr 21:44 collapse

In high school I was told that one in avagadros number of water molecules splits into ions.
Is that right? It seems like a very small amount.

phdepressed@sh.itjust.works on 28 Apr 23:32 collapse

The dissociation constant of pure water at RT is 1x10^-14. This is many magnitudes more than just one per avogadros number. The “trick” is that any given molecule of water basically has that 1x10^-14 chance of being split or otherwise whole at any given time.

I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org on 30 Apr 02:10 collapse

You mean it lives on land and in the pond?

21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com on 28 Apr 20:43 next collapse

Isn’t water itself the pretty literal definition of 0 and it doesn’t become one or the other until it’s a solution with something else?

joyjoy@lemm.ee on 28 Apr 20:51 next collapse

Water is the definition of 7.

CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world on 28 Apr 21:20 next collapse

Also I’m pretty sure it’s only coincidentally 7. The calculation for pH isn’t based on any property of water.

wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works on 28 Apr 21:46 collapse

Well, yes and no. The pH scale follows the hydrogen ion concentration, but specifically in aqueous media. The reason 7 is in the “middle” of the scale is because the natural dissociation of water sits at equilibrium at 10^-7 M H+ at 298K, IIRC. So perturbations naturally just displace that specific equilibrium, so it absolutely is normative to water.

CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world on 28 Apr 21:59 next collapse

By that definition, it can’t be exactly 7 then either. 10^-7 is just an estimate that we’ve agreed works fine. To my knowledge we haven’t really tried to improve this accuracy either?

WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com on 28 Apr 22:44 collapse

The exact value varies with temperature, so it’s a “good enough for the typical variations in temperature experienced by most aqueous solutions” estimate.

NielsBohron@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 02:53 collapse

Interestingly enough, in other solvents a neutral pH is going to be a different value. IIRC, ammonia has an autoionization constant of 10^-30, so a neutral pH would be 15

21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com on 28 Apr 21:21 collapse

Right, whatever the midpoint was. It’s been a minute since my last chemistry class.

trolololol@lemmy.world on 28 Apr 22:44 collapse

But is it +0 or -0? Neutral 0 is a lie, a measurement precision error.

knacht1@lemmy.world on 28 Apr 21:36 next collapse

Do you mean dihydrogen monoxide?

AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space on 28 Apr 22:03 next collapse

also known as hydric acid

NielsBohron@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 02:43 collapse

Close, the standard IUPAC acid nomenclature would be “hydrohydroxic acid”

mmddmm@lemm.ee on 29 Apr 01:27 collapse

Pretty sure the OP meant hydrogen hydroxide.

nightwatch_admin@feddit.nl on 28 Apr 22:08 next collapse

It is the final frontier for either, your meme could have been so much more interesting. SAD.

Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 28 Apr 23:18 next collapse

Little bits of it oscillate between hydronium and hydroxide so a little of both but not enough to make a difference.

NielsBohron@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 02:46 next collapse

That’s why the meme works. It’s not because water autoionizes; it’s because water is amphoteric, meaning it can act as either a Brønsted-Lowry acid or BL base depending on what what it’s reacting with. Put water with ammonia, and water acts as an acid. Put water with acetic acid, and it acts as a base

Source: I teach college chemistry

AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net on 29 Apr 02:51 collapse

Water is so cool. I like how the hydrophobic effects drives protein folding

TheOakTree@lemm.ee on 29 Apr 10:29 collapse

I once brought up in a family dinner how incredible and strange water is, and how we don’t really think about it.

It appears naturally in all three phases, expands when frozen, has a high surface tension, has a high specific heat, and can behave as a mild base or acid. Oh, and all the living stuff has water in it.

Nobody really understood what I meant except my sister.

JATtho@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 16:55 next collapse

Do you know about ortho/para-H~2~O? It only gets weirder.

TheOakTree@lemm.ee on 30 Apr 20:01 collapse

Neat, I will be saving this and reading it when I’m less busy… maybe I’ll get back to you on it.

SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net on 30 Apr 16:03 collapse

If it makes you feel any better, I totally get it.

I’ve thought many times how different the universe would be (would complex life on earth even work the same way???) if frozen water became more dense and sank like most frozen substances.

[deleted] on 29 Apr 10:42 collapse

.

NielsBohron@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 14:46 collapse

Kinda, but not really. Deuterium exists naturally in more or less the ratio as it has since the solar system first coalesced.

Also, deuterium is a component of heavy water, but the term “deuterium” actually referred to the specific isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus consists of one proton and one neutron, as opposed to a single proton (which is the more common isotope)

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 29 Apr 02:45 next collapse

What is the PH of the water? 🤔

spicystraw@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 05:20 collapse

About 7. Fun fact i did not know before research, at 100 C waters pH can go as low as 6.14.

chem.libretexts.org/…/Temperature_Dependence_of_t…

MTK@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 05:38 collapse

Oh! So that’s why hot water burns you!

nyctre@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 07:46 collapse

I know it’s a joke and all, but it’s not just the pH that makes something burn. A regular coke has a pH of around 2.5, for example.

FooBarrington@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 09:05 next collapse

Oh yeah? Then explain the sensation my sphincter feels upon butt-chugging three cans of coke, smart guy?

nyctre@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 10:23 collapse

I believe that’s caused by the CO2, but I’d have to test to be sure, brb.

FooBarrington@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 12:47 collapse

They still aren’t back… Oh god, did you do 4 cans?! Everyone knows you can’t do 4 cans!

nyctre@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 14:25 collapse

Now you tell me?!

MTK@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 12:45 collapse

I don’t know, I heard that coke can burn a hole in your septum

lvxferre@mander.xyz on 29 Apr 05:00 next collapse

“I’m whatever you aren’t, you fucker” - water, to the substance you mixed with it.

humanspiral@lemmy.ca on 29 Apr 15:04 collapse

H2O is neutral PH, and so answer is no. But then water tends to have a bunch of shit disolved in it. So answer is yes.

A self-contradicting proposition based on ambiguity of definition of water, of all things. This statement can be used to make HAL explode.

MunkyNutts@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 15:12 next collapse

If you take into consideration the self-ionization of water, it’s both, at the same time.

2 H~2~O -> H~3~O^+^ + ^-^OH

humanspiral@lemmy.ca on 29 Apr 16:39 collapse

AFAIU, it doesn’t change the PH neutrality.

I understand that they self combine/react again? But is that reaction still water?

NielsBohron@lemmy.world on 29 Apr 22:12 collapse

Autoionization and the reverse reaction are constantly happening in water, and when the reaction is happening at the same rate forward and backward the system is said to be “at dynamic equilibrium” (aka, stuff is happening, but there’s no net change)

In pure water, the equilibrium concentration of hydronium and hydroxide are equal, so it’s said to be neutral. At room temperature, that equilibrium concentration is approximately 1*10^-7 moles per liter, which gives a pH of 7 (since pH is defined as the negative log _10 of hydronium concentration)

Rob1992@lemmy.world on 30 Apr 16:36 collapse

It’s not neutral, pure water is slightly acidic due to free hydrogen