Though Arrhenius helped explain the fundamentals of acid/base chemistry, unfortunately his theories have limits. Suggested that acids are compounds that contain hydrogen and canĭissolve in water to release hydrogen ions into solution.įor example, hydrochloric acid (HCl) dissolves in water as follows: In the late 1800s, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius proposed that water can dissolve many compounds by separating them into their individual ions. Would not be proposed until 200 years later. The way they do, the first reasonable definition of acids and bases While Boyle and others tried to explain why acids and bases behave In the seventeenth century, the Irish writer and amateur chemist Robert Boyle first labeled substances as either acids or bases (he called bases alkalies), according to the following characteristics:Īcids taste sour, are corrosive to metals, change litmus (a dye extracted from lichens) red, and become less acidic when mixed with bases.īases feel slippery, change litmus blue, and become less basic when mixed with acids. While there are many slightly different definitions of acids and bases, in this lesson we will introduce the fundamentals of acid/base chemistry. The term acid, in fact, comes from the Latin term acere, which means 'sour'. However, it was not until a few hundred years ago that it was discovered why these things taste sour – because they are all acids. A newer version of the Acids and Bases I module is availableįor thousands of years people have known that vinegar, lemon juice, and many other foods taste sour. Understanding Scientific Journals and Articles.Using Graphs and Visual Data in Science.Scientists and the Scientific Community.Scientific Notation and Order of Magnitude.The Case of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Camillo Golgi.Factors that Control Earth's Temperature.Plates, Plate Boundaries, and Driving Forces.Solutions, Solubility, and Colligative Properties.Y-Chromsome and Mitochondrial DNA Haplotypes.Absorption, Distribution, and Storage of Chemicals.

Thousands of years later bases