Tuesday 7 May 2013

2.12 explain, in terms of dissociation, why hydrogen chloride is acidic in water but not in methylbenzene

Water (H2O) is a polar molecule.
Methylbenzene is a non-polar molecule.
Hydrogen chloride is a polar molecule.

Polars only dissolve in polars.
When hydrogen chloride is dissolved you get +H ions.
These are acidic.

5 comments:

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  2. Hydrochloric acid dissociates in water due to the latter's polarity....Hydrochloric acid will never dissociate in toluene as the latter is a non polar organic solvent...

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  3. Replies
    1. The water molecules have a slight charge (delta positive for H and delta negative for oxygen) causing the the positve H plus ions to be attracted to the oxygen in theory and the chlorine to the hydrogen in the water molecule, this is what causes it to dissolve.

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