Why is ethanoic acid weaker than hcl

Nitrite ion. Hydrofluoric acid. Fluoride ion. Methanoic acid. HCO 2 H. HCO 2 -. Methanoate ion. Benzoic acid. Benzoate ion. Oxalate ion. Ethanoic acid. CH 3 COO. Ethanoate acetate ion. Carbonic acid. CO 3 HCO 3 -. Into the other three tubes place 2 cm depth of hydrochloric acid 0. Add three drops of full-range universal indicator solution to one of the ethanoic acid tubes and note the pH. Add three drops of full-range universal indicator solution to one of the hydrochloric acid tubes and note the pH.

Place about 0. Use a dropping pipette to add one drop of sodium carbonate solution to the ethanoic acid tube which contains the indicator. Stir the tube with a glass rod and note any observations. Continue to add drops until the pH is neutral. Count the number of drops you have used.

Repeat the procedure in step 7 but adding the sodium carbonate to the tube containing hydrochloric acid and indicator. Add sodium hydroxide solution 0. Do this by following the procedure in steps 5, 6, 7 and 8, but using sodium hydroxide instead of sodium carbonate.

Add a small piece of magnesium ribbon to the remaining hydrochloric acid tube. Try to identify the gas given off. Repeat step 10 using the third ethanoic acid tube. Compare the rate of reaction with that of hydrochloric acid. Extension, or instead of using sodium carbonate solution: Take a small amount one-quarter spatula measure of solid copper carbonate on a filter paper.

Pour 1 cm depth of hydrochloric acid and ethanoic acid respectively into two more test tubes. Add the copper carbonate to each tube in very small quantities, stirring with a glass rod, until nothing further happens. Record your observations. Ethanoic acid is a weak acid which means it does not fully dissociate into ions in water. Additional information You can find more information about these and other properties of ethanoic acid at Chemguide.

Suppose you had to work out the pH of 0. All you have to do is work out the concentration of the hydrogen ions in the solution, and then use your calculator to convert it to a pH. Each mole of HCl reacts with the water to give 1 mole of hydrogen ions and 1 mole of chloride ions.

That means that if the concentration of the acid is 0. Use your calculator to convert this into pH. My calculator wants me to enter 0. Yours might want you to do it in a different order. You need to find out! A weak acid is one which doesn't ionize fully when it is dissolved in water. Ethanoic acid is a typical weak acid. It reacts with water to produce hydroxonium ions and ethanoate ions, but the back reaction is more successful than the forward one.

The ions react very easily to reform the acid and the water. The rest remain as simple ethanoic acid molecules. Most organic acids are weak. Hydrogen fluoride dissolving in water to produce hydrofluoric acid is a weak inorganic acid that you may come across elsewhere. The position of equilibrium of the reaction between the acid and water varies from one weak acid to another.

Bronsted-Lowry Theory. For a 0. Structurally, the electronegativity of the chloride ion is much less than that of the acetate ion which means the covalent bond of the ionizable hydrogen in HCl is much weaker and more easily ionized in aqueous solution than the ionizable hydrogen to oxygen bond in HOAc. Acid strength is determined by the stability of the conjugate base. Here are the factors that influence stability of the conjugate base:. If you look at the conjugate bases, in acetic acid, the negative charge falls on the oxygen and in HCl, the negative charge falls on the chlorine.

Because of the fact that oxygen and chlorine are on different rows, we use ion size as the most significant factor for determining CB stability. The size of the chloride ion is greater than the size of the oxygen ion and therefore the CB of HCl can distribute the charge more evenly and is thus more stable.

However, this is not really a significant factor. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.

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