§-Quick questions
WAChemistryUnit 3: Equilibrium, Acids and Bases, and Redox
Quick questions on Polyprotic acids: WACE Year 12 Chemistry
2short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is sulfuric acid is a special case?Show answer
Sulfuric acid is strong in its first ionisation (, essentially complete) but weak in its second (, an equilibrium). This mixed behaviour is worth remembering because it differs from a fully weak acid like phosphoric acid.
What are effect on titrations?Show answer
Because the protons come off in distinct steps, a titration of a polyprotic acid against a strong base can show more than one equivalence point, one for each proton being neutralised. A diprotic acid can show two end points and a triprotic acid up to three, provided the successive constants are far enough apart to resolve them.
Have a question we have not covered?
This dot-point answer is short enough that we have not extracted many short questions yet. Read the full dot-point answer or ask Mo, our study assistant, in the chat for follow ups.