Question

Explain why does dilute sulphuric acid is a stronger acid than concentrated sulphuric acid.

Answer 1

1. Concentrated acid- It is either pure acid or has a high concentration of acid.
2. Dilute acid: A dilute acid is prepared by adding water to the concentrated acid and thus dilute acid has more water than the acid itself.
3. Thus, a concentrated acid has more content of acid while dilute acid has a small amount of acid and more amount of water.
4. Strength of acid: It depends upon the concentration of hydrogen ions (H⁺) in the solution. The more the H⁺ ions, the stronger the acid.
5. Dilute Sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more amount of water which also dissociates as H⁺ and OH^- (hydroxide) ions in the solution. Thus, the hydrogen ions of water and hydrogen ions of acid add up to increase the strength of the acid.
6. Hence, dilute sulphuric acid is a stronger acid than concentrated sulphuric acid because of the presence of more hydrogen ions (H⁺).