It is easy to describe acids in terms of what they do. Among their most familiar properties, they taste sour and corrode metals. Vinegar, for example, gets its tart taste from acetic acid.
Vinegar is a fairly dilute form of acetic acid. At full strength, this acid blisters the skin. Sulfuric acid is so corrosive that even a drop can cause deeply serious burns. In some very weak acids such as carbonic acid, the properties of sourness and corrosion are hardly noticeable to the 'nonchemist'. Some weak acids are even used as medicines, including acetylsalicylic acid, better known as aspirin.
Bases are best known for bitter taste and the soapy feel they impart to water. In fact, many bases such as sodium hydroxide are essential ingredients in a number of familiar household and industrial soaps. The base ammonia is a household and industrial cleaner in its own right. Strong bases, like strong acids, can be quite corrosive and burn the skin.
In general, acids are compounds which, when dissolved in water
- form solutions that conduct electricity
- react with metals like zinc and magnesium to produce salts and a gas which is usually hydrogen
- turns blue litmus paper to red
- react with bases to form salt and water.
On the other hand, bases are compounds which, when dissolved in water
- yield solutions that also conduct electric current
- turns red litmus paper to blue
- react with acids to form salt and water.
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