The World’s Strongest Acid Might be Gentle Enough to Eat
SciShow・12 minutes read
Hydrofluoric acid is not the strongest acid, with Fluoroantimonic acid being a combination of two acids. The gentlest known acid is found in daily vitamin supplements, while acids vary in strength based on proton separation and their dissociation constant.
Insights
- The world's strongest acid is not hydrofluoric acid as commonly believed, but rather carborane acids, surpassing even sulfuric acid in strength across all phases.
- Acids' strength is determined by their ability to donate protons, with the pH scale reflecting this; however, the gentlest and strongest acid, found in daily vitamin supplements, defies common misconceptions about acidity and harshness.
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Recent questions
What determines the strength of acids?
Proton separation from molecules
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Summary
00:00
"Strongest Acids: Surprising, Gentle, and Unique"
- Hydrofluoric acid is not the world's strongest acid, despite its portrayal in popular media.
- Fluoroantimonic acid, often considered the strongest acid, is actually a combination of two acids.
- The singular strongest acid is surprisingly gentle and may be used in daily vitamin supplements.
- Acids donate protons to other atoms, with the strength determined by how readily protons separate from the original molecule.
- Weak acids like formic acid only occasionally release protons, while strong acids like hydrochloric acid readily do so.
- The acid dissociation constant (Ka) quantifies an acid's strength by comparing dissociated acid molecules to intact ones.
- The pH scale measures acidity based on the concentration of hydronium ions, with lower pH indicating stronger acids.
- Superacids, stronger than sulfuric acid, are evaluated using the Hammett acidity function, which considers the acid's conjugate base.
- Carborane acids are identified as the strongest known acids across solid, liquid, and gas phases, surpassing other contenders like sulfuric acid.
- Carborane acids are unique for leaving non-reactive conjugate bases, making them gentle enough to modify molecules like buckyballs without damage.
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