Acid strength is the tendency of anacid, symbolised by thechemical formulaHA, to dissociate into aproton,H+, and ananion,A−. Thedissociation orionization of a strong acid in solution is effectively complete, except in its most concentrated solutions.
Examples ofstrong acids arehydrochloric acid (HCl),perchloric acid (HClO4),nitric acid (HNO3) andsulfuric acid (H2SO4).
A weak acid is only partially dissociated, or is partly ionized in water with both the undissociated acid and its dissociation products being present, in solution, inequilibrium with each other.
Acetic acid (CH3COOH) is an example of a weak acid. The strength of a weak acid is quantified by itsacid dissociation constant, value.
The strength of a weakorganic acid may depend on substituent effects. The strength of aninorganic acid is dependent on theoxidation state for the atom to which the proton may be attached. Acid strength is solvent-dependent. For example,hydrogen chloride is a strong acid in aqueous solution, but is a weak acid when dissolved inglacial acetic acid.
The usual measure of the strength of an acid is itsacid dissociation constant (), which can bedetermined experimentally bytitration methods. Stronger acids have a larger and a smaller logarithmic constant () than weaker acids. The stronger an acid is, the more easily it loses a proton,H+. Two key factors that contribute to the ease ofdeprotonation are thepolarity of theH−A bond and the size of atomA, which determine the strength of theH−A bond. Acid strengths also depend on the stability of the conjugate base.
While the value measures the tendency of an acidic solute to transfer a proton to a standard solvent (most commonly water orDMSO), the tendency of an acidic solvent to transfer a proton to a reference solute (most commonly a weakaniline base) is measured by itsHammett acidity function, the value. Although these two concepts of acid strength often amount to the same general tendency of a substance to donate a proton, the and values are measures of distinct properties and may occasionally diverge. For instance, hydrogen fluoride, whether dissolved in water () or DMSO (), has values indicating that it undergoes incomplete dissociation in these solvents, making it a weak acid. However, as the rigorously dried, neat acidic medium, hydrogen fluoride has an value of –15,[1] making it a more strongly protonating medium than 100% sulfuric acid and thus, by definition, asuperacid.[2] (To prevent ambiguity, in the rest of this article, "strong acid" will, unless otherwise stated, refer to an acid that is strong as measured by its value (). This usage is consistent with the common parlance of most practicingchemists.)
When the acidic medium in question is a dilute aqueous solution, the is approximately equal to thepH value, which is a negative logarithm of the concentration of aqueousH+ in solution. The pH of a simple solution of an acid in water is determined by both and the acid concentration. For weak acid solutions, it depends on thedegree of dissociation, which may be determined by an equilibrium calculation. For concentrated solutions of acids, especially strong acids for which pH < 0, the value is a better measure of acidity than the pH.

Astrong acid is an acid that dissociates according to the reaction
where S represents a solvent molecule, such as a molecule of water ordimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), to such an extent that the concentration of the undissociated speciesHA is too low to be measured. For practical purposes a strong acid can be said to be completely dissociated. An example of a strong acid isperchloric acid.
Any acid with a value which is less than about −2 behaves as a strong acid. This results from the very highbuffer capacity of solutions with apH value of 1 or less and is known as theleveling effect.[3]
The following are strong acids in aqueous and dimethyl sulfoxide solution. As mentioned above, because the dissociation is so strongly favored, the concentrations ofHA and thus the values of cannot be measured experimentally. The values in the following table are average values from as many as 8 different theoretical calculations.
| Acid | Formula | in water | in DMSO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrochloric acid | HCl | −5.9 ± 0.4 | −2.0 ± 0.6 |
| Hydrobromic acid | HBr | −8.8 ± 0.8 | −6.8 ± 0.8 |
| Hydroiodic acid | HI | −9.5 ± 1 | −10.9 ± 1 |
| Triflic acid | H[CF3SO3] | −14 ± 2 | −14 ± 2 |
| Perchloric acid | H[ClO4] | −15 ± 2 | −15 ± 2 |
Also, in water
The following can be used as protonators inorganic chemistry
Sulfonic acids, such asp-toluenesulfonic acid (tosylic acid) are a class of strong organicoxyacids.[7] Some sulfonic acids can be isolated as solids.Polystyrene functionalized intopolystyrene sulfonate is an example of a substance that is a solid strong acid.
This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(March 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |

A weak acid is a substance that partially dissociates or partly ionizes when it is dissolved in a solvent. In solution, there is an equilibrium between the acid,HA, and the products of dissociation.
The solvent (e.g. water) is omitted from this expression when its concentration is effectively unchanged by the process of acid dissociation. The strength of a weak acid can be quantified in terms of adissociation constant,, defined as follows, where signifies the concentration of a chemical moiety,X.When a numerical value of is known it can be used to determine the extent of dissociation in a solution with a given concentration of the acid,, by applying the law ofconservation of mass.where is the value of theanalytical concentration of the acid. When all the quantities in this equation are treated as numbers, ionic charges are not shown and this becomes aquadratic equation in the value of the hydrogen ion concentration value,[H+].This equation shows that the pH of a solution of a weak acid depends on both its value and its concentration. Typical examples of weak acids includeacetic acid andphosphorous acid. An acid such asoxalic acid (HOOC−COOH) is said to bedibasic because it can lose two protons and react with two molecules of a simple base.Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) is tribasic.
For a more rigorous treatment of acid strength seeacid dissociation constant. This includes acids such as the dibasic acidsuccinic acid, for which the simple method of calculating the pH of a solution, shown above, cannot be used.
The experimental determination of a value is commonly performed by means of atitration.[8] A typical procedure would be as follows. A quantity of strong acid is added to a solution containing the acid or a salt of the acid, to the point where the compound is fully protonated. The solution is then titrated with a strong base
until only the deprotonated species,A−, remains in solution. At each point in the titration pH is measured using aglass electrode and apH meter. The equilibrium constant is found by fitting calculated pH values to the observed values, using the method ofleast squares.
It is sometimes stated that "the conjugate of a weak acid is a strong base". Such a statement is incorrect. For example, acetic acid is a weak acid which has a. Its conjugate base is theacetate ion with and (from the relationship), which certainly does not correspond to a strong base. The conjugate of a weak acid is often a weak base and vice versa.
The strength of an acid varies from solvent to solvent. An acid which is strong in water may be weak in a less basic solvent, and an acid which is weak in water may be strong in a more basic solvent. According toBrønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, the solvent S can accept a proton.
For example, hydrochloric acid is a weak acid in solution in pureacetic acid,HO2CCH3, which is less basic than water.
The extent of ionization of thehydrohalic acids decreases in the order HI > HBr > HCl. Acetic acid is said to be adifferentiating solvent for the three acids, while water is not.[6]: 217
An important example of a solvent which is more basic than water isdimethyl sulfoxide, DMSO,(CH3)2SO. A compound which is a weak acid in water may become a strong acid in DMSO.Acetic acid is an example of such a substance. An extensive bibliography of values in solution in DMSO and other solvents can be found atAcidity–Basicity Data in Nonaqueous Solvents.[inappropriate external link?]
Superacids are strong acids even in solvents of low dielectric constant.[9] Examples of superacids arefluoroantimonic acid andmagic acid. Some superacids can be crystallised.[10] They can also quantitatively stabilizecarbocations.[11]
Lewis acids reacting with Lewis bases in gas phase and non-aqueous solvents have been classified in theECW model, and it has been shown that there is no one order of acid strengths.[12] The relative acceptor strength of Lewis acids toward a series of bases, versus other Lewis acids, can be illustrated byC-B plots.[13][14] It has been shown that to define the order of Lewis acid strength at least two properties must be considered. For the qualitativeHSAB theory the two properties are hardness and strength while for the quantitativeECW model the two properties are electrostatic and covalent.
In organic carboxylic acids, an electronegative substituent can pull electron density out of an acidic bond through theinductive effect, resulting in a smaller value. The effect decreases, the further the electronegative element is from the carboxylate group, as illustrated by the following series ofhalogenatedbutanoic acids.
| Structure | Name | pKa |
|---|---|---|
![]() | 2-chlorobutanoic acid | 2.86 |
![]() | 3-chlorobutanoic acid | 4.0 |
![]() | 4-chlorobutanoic acid | 4.5 |
![]() | butanoic acid | 4.5 |
In a set ofoxoacids of an element, values decrease with the oxidation state of the element. The oxoacids of chlorine illustrate this trend.[6]: (p. 171)
| Structure | Name | Oxidation state | pKa |
|---|---|---|---|
| perchloric acid | 7 | −8† | |
| chloric acid | 5 | −1 | |
| chlorous acid | 3 | 2.0 | |
| hypochlorous acid | 1 | 7.53 |
† theoretical