Question

Define ""acidity"" of an aqueous solution. How do you compare the strength of acidity of solutions ?

Answer 1

Answer with Explanation:

The acidity of an aqueous solution is a term used to identify how acidic the solution is. An acidic solution is a solution in which the concentration of hydrogen ions is greater than the concentration of hydroxide ions. In the other case around if the concentration of hydrogen ions is lesser than the concentration of hydroxide ions the solution is termed to be basic or alkaline. For a solution with equal concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions the solution is termed to be neutral.

The acidity of solutions is compared on the basis of the concentration of the hydrogen ions reduced to log of base 10 to ease calculations. The comparison is made in terms of 'pH' value which is defined as

`pH=-log[H^+]`

where

`[H^+]` is the hydrogen ion concentration of the solution in moles per liter of solution.

If the pH is < 7 the solution is acidic and the closer the pH value to 1 the higher is the acidity of the solution.