Question

Given the following equation: $HCl{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}O\to {{H}_{2}}O+Cl{{O}_{2}}$, how would you identify the acid, base, conjugate acid and conjugate base?

Answer 1

Hint $HCl{{O}_{2}}$ is an inorganic compound known by the name chlorous acid. The pure substance is unstable in nature and exists in the form of +3 oxidation state. It is a powerful oxidizing agent and it is the only halogen to form an isolable acid.

Complete Step by step solution:
An acid is defined as those substances which produce ${{H}^{+}}$ in a solution whereas base produces $O{{H}^{-}}$ ions. Acids acts as a proton donor and electron pair acceptors while bases acts as a proton acceptor and electron pair donor.
Conjugate acid are those acids which contain one more $H$atom and one more positive charge than the base from which it is formed and other the other hand conjugate base are those bases which contain one less $H$ atom and one more negative charge than the acid from which it is formed.
The given reaction can be written in the form:
$HCl{{O}_{2}}+{{H}_{2}}O\to {{H}_{3}}{{O}^{+}}+Cl{{O}_{2}}^{-}$

Hence from the above discussions we can consider that $HCl{{O}_{2}}$ acts as an acid and ${{H}_{3}}{{O}^{+}}$ is its conjugate base while ${{H}_{2}}O$ acts as a base and $Cl{{O}_{2}}^{-}$ is its conjugate acid.

Note: Generally all acids are sour in taste and turn blue litmus paper into red while bases are bitter in taste and turn red litmus paper into blue. The pH value of acids are greater than 7 and for bases it is less than 7 and if the value of pH is exactly 7 then it indicates the given solution is neutral in nature.