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Science Memes @mander.xyz

fossilesque @mander.xyz

2w ago

Is water an acid or a base?

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Considering that water autoionizes, yes - it is both an acid and a base.
- Inclusive or

"I'm whatever you aren't, you fucker" - water, to the substance you mixed with it.

Little bits of it oscillate between hydronium and hydroxide so a little of both but not enough to make a difference.
- That's why the meme works. It's not because water autoionizes; it's because water is amphoteric, meaning it can act as either a Brønsted-Lowry acid or BL base depending on what what it's reacting with. Put water with ammonia, and water acts as an acid. Put water with acetic acid, and it acts as a base
  Source: I teach college chemistry
  
  Water is so cool. I like how the hydrophobic effects drives protein folding
- Kinda, but not really. Deuterium exists naturally in more or less the ratio as it has since the solar system first coalesced.
  Also, deuterium is a component of heavy water, but the term "deuterium" actually referred to the specific isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus consists of one proton and one neutron, as opposed to a single proton (which is the more common isotope)

Yes

Ah yes amphoteric compounds

H2O is neutral PH, and so answer is no. But then water tends to have a bunch of shit disolved in it. So answer is yes.
A self-contradicting proposition based on ambiguity of definition of water, of all things. This statement can be used to make HAL explode.
- If you take into consideration the self-ionization of water, it's both, at the same time.
  2 H₂O -> H₃O⁺ + ^-OH
  
  AFAIU, it doesn't change the PH neutrality.
  I understand that they self combine/react again? But is that reaction still water?
- It's not neutral, pure water is slightly acidic due to free hydrogen

Do you mean dihydrogen monoxide?
- also known as hydric acid
  
  Close, the standard IUPAC acid nomenclature would be "hydrohydroxic acid"
- Pretty sure the OP meant hydrogen hydroxide.

What is the PH of the water? 🤔
- About 7. Fun fact i did not know before research, at 100 C waters pH can go as low as 6.14.
  https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_Modules_(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry)/Acids_and_Bases/Acids_and_Bases_in_Aqueous_Solutions/The_pH_Scale/Temperature_Dependence_of_the_pH_of_pure_Water
  
  Oh! So that's why hot water burns you!

It is the final frontier for either, your meme could have been so much more interesting. SAD.

Is this about the anomaly of water? I vaguely remember it from school
- No, this is about water being amphoteric compound meaning it behaves like a acid or base in different circumstances.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphoterism
  
  The water molecule is amphoteric in aqueous solution
  A water molecule in aqueous solution. How can you tell it's being dissolved, or doing the dissolving?
  
  You mean it lives on land and in the pond?

Isn't water itself the pretty literal definition of 0 and it doesn't become one or the other until it's a solution with something else?
- Water is the definition of 7.
  
  Right, whatever the midpoint was. It's been a minute since my last chemistry class.
  
  Also I’m pretty sure it’s only coincidentally 7. The calculation for pH isn’t based on any property of water.
- But is it +0 or -0? Neutral 0 is a lie, a measurement precision error.

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