Comment on Is water an acid or a base?
MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 6 days agoIf you take into consideration the self-ionization of water, it’s both, at the same time.
2 H~2~O -> H~3~O^+^ + ^-^OH
Comment on Is water an acid or a base?
MunkyNutts@lemmy.world 6 days agoIf you take into consideration the self-ionization of water, it’s both, at the same time.
2 H~2~O -> H~3~O^+^ + ^-^OH
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
AFAIU, it doesn’t change the PH neutrality.
I understand that they self combine/react again? But is that reaction still water?
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Autoionization and the reverse reaction are constantly happening in water, and when the reaction is happening at the same rate forward and backward the system is said to be “at dynamic equilibrium” (aka, stuff is happening, but there’s no net change)
In pure water, the concentration of hydronium and hydroxide are equal, so it’s said to be neutral. At room temperature, that concentration is approximately 1*10^-7 moles per liter, which gives a pH of 7 (since pH is defined as the negative log _10 of hydronium concentration)