Question

Give two examples of strong acids.

Answer 1

Strong acid: The acids that dissociate completely into their constituents ions in their aqueous solution are called strong acids.

Example:

• Hydrochloric acid is a strong acid as it dissociates completely into hydrogen and chloride ions in aqueous solution.
• The balanced chemical equation can be written as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Hydrochloric}\mathrm{acid}}{\mathrm{HCl}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{ion}}{{\mathrm{H}}^{+}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Chloride}\mathrm{ion}}{{\mathrm{Cl}}^{-}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$

• Nitric acid is a strong acid as it dissociates completely into hydrogen and nitrate ions in aqueous solution.
• The balanced chemical equation can be written as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Nitric}\mathrm{acid}}{{\mathrm{HNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{ion}}{{\mathrm{H}}^{+}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Nitrate}\mathrm{ion}}{{\mathrm{NO}}_3^{-}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)}$