Week 5: Acids & Bases

3/3/2019

Mar 4 - 9
Posts Are Due By Midnight On Saturday Mar. 9th

3/3/2019 09:26:23 am

The strongest acids in existence are known as carborane superacids. They are hundreds of times stronger than the previous record holder, flurosulphuric acid. The strongest carborane is fluoroantimonic acid with a pH of -31.3! It is 100 decillion (100*10^33) times more potent than stomach acid.

Celine Liu link

3/3/2019 04:39:06 pm

Have you ever wondered who invented the way to differentiate between acids and bases? The page includes information on how a Spanish man began to use litmus, a compound first extracted from a lichen to be used as a dye, to study acids and bases. This idea was later expanded by Robert Boyle who found out that certain plant derived substances changes colour in response to acids or bases.

David Hui

3/4/2019 05:31:34 am

This article talks about the world's strongest acid, carborane. It is over a million times more potent sulfuric acid and has a pH of around -18! However, unlike other so-called "superacids", it is very stable and non-corrosive. In fact, it can be stored in an regular bottle!

Reference: https://www.nature.com/news/2004/041115/full/041115-5.html

Anmol

3/4/2019 01:24:32 pm

This article talks about how the acidification of oceans is impacting sea life.The water is turning acidic because of CO2 from human activities. The ocean absorbs the CO2 which alters the pH. As water becomes more acidic, the ability of salmon to sniff out danger decreases. Salmon rely on their sense of smell for survival so the acidification can be dangerous to them. This was proven by an experiment done by Chase Williams, a toxicologist at the University of Washington. He tested the reaction of three different salmon when faced with danger in three different pH levels of water. As expected, the salmon in the normal water fled when faced with danger but the salmon in the more acidic water stayed put. This is bad for other marine life as well because salmon may be food for them.

Source: www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/ocean-acidification-knocking-scents-out-salmon

Daniel

3/4/2019 02:20:43 pm

This article talks about how Earth's earliest oceans might have been acidic. Currently they are alkaline. The reason for the early ocean's acidity was the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists deduct that back then the atmosphere contained more carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Therefore, the ocean was more acidic back then.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410095624.htm

Rohan Talukdar link

3/4/2019 08:22:27 pm

This article talks about how Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen invented the pH scale. The article talks about how he made it while experimenting with beer. He studied enzymes and amino acids and he wanted a way of recording what the potential of hydrogen it was. So he created a pH scale which has 7 as neutral, less than 7 as an acid and more than 7 as a base.

Reference:
https://www.vox.com/2018/5/29/17404820/spl-sorensen-google-doodle-ph-scale

Kassandra Szpakowski link

3/5/2019 04:45:29 am

Great article regarding Ocean Acidification.
As more greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, is pumped into the air, the ocean absorbs some of that gas and will react with water in ways that make the ocean slightly more acidic
If hydrogen ions outnumber hydroxide ions, water is somewhat acidic. If hydroxide ions outnumber hydrogen ions, it’s more basic. Ocean water is slightly basic, with a pH around 8.2.
When carbon dioxide dissolves into the sea, it starts a chemical reaction. The carbon dioxide and water molecules combine with calcium carbonate to produce molecules called bicarbonates. And that poses a problem for all of the animals that rely on seawater’s calcium carbonate to make shells or skeletons
This shortage affects coral growth and mollusk shells. Growth slows because an oyster has to spend more energy to pull calcium and carbonate out of the water to build its shell. Ocean acidification is making the animal work harder and without their protective shells, such animals can die.

Anya Lu link

3/5/2019 10:06:36 am

As we pump more CO2 in the air, the ocean absorbs more of it there it combines with calcium carbonate. This produces bicarbonate and reaction leaves calcium and hydrogen atoms stranded. Those free hydrogen atoms act as an acid to lower the ocean’s pH. This affects little skates by making their jaws heavier and fins more flexible, making it harder for them to swim.

Shahd Bleible

3/7/2019 10:27:17 am

Acid rain is a real problem in today's world. A main reason for acid rain is pollution. There are a lot of factories which pollute our air. If we want acid rain to not occur as much, we need to find a way to cut down our pollution and make the air cleaner.

Brianna Luo

3/7/2019 06:32:24 pm

We only learned to classify substances as an acid, base or neutral, but there are substances that can react as both an acid and a base. These are called amphoteric compounds.

The word amphoteric comes from the Greek word amphoteros, which means “each of two”.

An example of an amphoteric compound is aluminum hydroxide, because it can act as a base and neutralize strong acids, or act as an acid and neutralize strong bases. Super cool!

Reference: https://socratic.org/questions/what-is-a-substance-that-can-behave-as-an-acid-or-a-base

Jessie link

3/8/2019 02:08:58 pm

A buffer solution is a solution that resists changes in pH. The solution is made up of a weak acid and a conjugate base or a weak base and a conjugate acid. A conjugate acid or base are acids or bases that lose protons. Because the acids and bases are weak they do not fully dissociate. Because of this, it allows the dissociated buffer to source or sink protons, neutralizing the substance.

Aparna Maheshwari link

3/8/2019 06:50:43 pm

One knows not to mess around with sulfuric acid. Even at a fairly dilute concentration, it's about ten times more acidic than the contents of your stomach. But you probably never learned not to hang around with fluoroantimonic acid, the world's strongest superacid. The silvery-white metal antimony, with a pH of -31.3, is 20 quintillion times stronger than sulphuric 100% acid. "You couldn't pick up a bottle of it because after it ate through the bottle, it would dissolve your hand," Sam Kean noted in his book The Disappearing Spoon.

Christine Wong

3/9/2019 08:33:19 am

In humans, blood has a pH level of around 7. However, when blood becomes too acidic, then a condition called acidosis would happen. The lungs are forced to breath faster and deeper to try to expel extra carbon dioxide while the kidneys discharge more acid into urine to try to bring the pH level down. People will also feel weak and drowsy from the lack of oxygen in the blood. Heart problems, and even death and coma may also occur in extreme situation. Thus, this demonstrates one of the important roles acids and bases play at maintaining our health.

https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/home/hormonal-and-metabolic-disorders/acid-base-balance/acidosis

Sat Arora

3/9/2019 07:13:30 pm

This article talks about the high levels of acidity in the ocean. A resultant of carbon dioxide, water, and carbonate due to the excess carbon dioxide in the oceans (due to pollution) has caused the bicarbonate ions to multiply. As a result, the pH of ocean water has went from 8.2 to 8.1 (more acidic), which doesn't seem bad at first. But the pH scale is logarithmic, meaning that the dropping of 0.1 in pH is much bigger than you'd expect. This has caused many sea animals to die due to the change in environment. Read more about the article here:
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/shell-shocked-emerging-impacts-ocean-acidification

Hamnah Riaz link

3/9/2019 07:53:20 pm

This article explains what acids and bases are, as well as how to differentiate between them. An acidic solution consists of a high concentration of hydrogen ions while a basic solution has a low concentration of hydrogen ions. Acids taste sour, while bases feel slippery. The pH scale is used to rank substances based on their acidity and basicity as well as the strength of that acid or base. A neutral substance lies on a pH of 7. Any substance with a pH level of less than 7 is acidic. While any substance with a pH level of greater than 7 is basic. We are also introduced to a new term; buffer. Buffers are substances that can resist changes in pH levels and are key factors to maintaining biological systems. ( most organisms including humans classify as buffers).

Eric Tieu

3/10/2019 04:16:04 pm

At many elementary school science fairs, kids usually try to build a paper-mache volcano because then they can use the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. This reaction causes the volcano to "Erupt", causing a foam-like substance to come out of the volcano as "Lava". Kids like to do this for their science fair project because they think it is interesting for the baking soda and the vinegar to react, thinking that the judges will like what they did and may potentially win.

Matthew Mao link

3/11/2019 05:01:37 pm

This article speaks about the ongoing problem of ocean "acidification" with carbon dioxide and bicarbonate due to fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases. Closely related to rays and sharks, the stiffening and loosening of certain parts of the skeleton of an aquatic creature called the skate might change the way it glides around the sea: walking rather than swimming.

lekha

3/14/2019 03:47:53 pm

seeing this picture reminded me of one of my science projects on acid rain last year. I remember reading that acid rain can cause many fish to die and float to the shore due to the pollution caused by greenhouse gases and other human pollutions that are now contributed to the air we breath.

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