Home >
Community >
What is the word for how polyprotic an acid is?
Upvote
25
Downvote
+ Terminology
Posted by
Melinda Siebold
What is the word for how polyprotic an acid is?
Proticity does sound nice, but it is a bad choice since the term has already been introduced by Peter D. Mitchell (1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) in a completely different context.
I use the word proticity for the force and flow of
the proton current by analogy with the word electricity, which describes
the force and flow of an electron current.
Proticity does sound nice, but it is a bad choice since the term has already been introduced by Peter D. Mitchell (1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) in a completely different context.
I use the word proticity for the force and flow of the proton current by analogy with the word electricity, which describes the force and flow of an electron current.
@ringo Honestly, I dont know a good noun in English (or German). In both languages, I have always used inelegant constructions (multiprotonic acids / mehrprotonige Säuren) instead.More
I think the context is different enough that we can cope with the identical word meaning different things. There are other examples, where it’s much worse.More
I already know those words; what I am looking for is a word for the number itself.More
Upvote
VOTE
Downvote
The term that I learned was (ironically) "basicity."
I'm not sure if that's the standard term, or even if there is a standard term, but this refers to how many bases you need to neutralize the acid completely.
EDIT: Thanks for the correction from LDC3: the "basicity" of an acid refers to how many bases you've already added to it. Thus, $\ce{NaH2PO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, monobasic," $\ce{Na2HPO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, dibasic," and so on.
The term that I learned was (ironically) "basicity."
I'm not sure if that's the standard term, or even if there is a standard term, but this refers to how many bases you need to neutralize the acid completely.
EDIT: Thanks for the correction from LDC3: the "basicity" of an acid refers to how many bases you've already added to it. Thus, $\ce{NaH2PO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, monobasic," $\ce{Na2HPO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, dibasic," and so on.
If you go to a chemical site (like Sigma-Aldrich) the formula $\ce {NaH2PO4}$ is called phosphoric acid, monobasic and $\ce {Na2HPO4}$ is called phosphoric acid, dibasic because of the number of bases (2 NaOH) use to get the compound.More
@LDC3 You might be right. Unfortunately, Sigma Aldrich seems to be down for me right now. I will check and update the answer when it comes online, but curiously, Wikipedia seems to say the opposite. Maybe an editor got confused one day? More
This is accepted terminology AFAIK. Ive seen Wikipedia use it too consistently across articles, and Ive seen chemical bottles use "sodium phosphate, monobasic" (or "dibasic") as you mentioned.More
Proticity does sound nice, but it is a bad choice since the term has already been introduced by Peter D. Mitchell (1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) in a completely different context.
In his Nobel Lecture, Peter D. Mitchell explains:
Proticity does sound nice, but it is a bad choice since the term has already been introduced by Peter D. Mitchell (1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) in a completely different context.
In his Nobel Lecture, Peter D. Mitchell explains:
More
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
Monoprotic, Diprotic, Trioprotic, tetraprotic, pentaprotic, hexaprotic, septaprotic, octaprotic....
{edit}
I then suggest "equivalents factor," which is directly related to the concept of normality:
"Normality isn't the same like Molarity, but you can say N = M * equivalents. 1 M HCl = 1 N HCl, but 1 M H2SO4 = 2 N H2SO4..." -source
Monoprotic, Diprotic, Trioprotic, tetraprotic, pentaprotic, hexaprotic, septaprotic, octaprotic....
{edit}
I then suggest "equivalents factor," which is directly related to the concept of normality:
"Normality isn't the same like Molarity, but you can say N = M * equivalents. 1 M HCl = 1 N HCl, but 1 M H2SO4 = 2 N H2SO4..." -source
More
VOTE
VOTE
The term that I learned was (ironically) "basicity."
I'm not sure if that's the standard term, or even if there is a standard term, but this refers to how many bases you need to neutralize the acid completely.
EDIT: Thanks for the correction from LDC3: the "basicity" of an acid refers to how many bases you've already added to it. Thus, $\ce{NaH2PO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, monobasic," $\ce{Na2HPO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, dibasic," and so on.
Again, not sure if this is standard terminology.
The term that I learned was (ironically) "basicity."
I'm not sure if that's the standard term, or even if there is a standard term, but this refers to how many bases you need to neutralize the acid completely.
EDIT: Thanks for the correction from LDC3: the "basicity" of an acid refers to how many bases you've already added to it. Thus, $\ce{NaH2PO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, monobasic," $\ce{Na2HPO4}$ would be "sodium phosphate, dibasic," and so on.
Again, not sure if this is standard terminology.
More
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE
VOTE