Acids and Alkalis

• Acids and alkalis are corrosive meaning that they can burn your skin.
• two ways to test if a substance is an acid or alkali is a universal indicator or litmus paper
• A universal indicator changes colour depending on the pH level of the solution it's put into, red being very acidic and blue being neutral/alkaline
• Strong acids have lots of H+ ions so their solutions are strongly acidic
• An example of a strong acid is hydrochloric acid (HCl)
• Weak acids only release some H+ ions so their solutions are weakly acidic
• The more H+ ions there are in a solution, the stronger the acid will be
• Acid + metal = salt + hydrogen gas
• When an acid reacts with an alkali, water is produced as well as salt
• Bases are alkalines which contain OH- ions
• A neutralisation reaction occurs when an acid reacts with an alkali to produce a salt and water.
• Neutralisation reactions can also occur between metals and acids or bases and acids