CHEM 001A Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Hydrolysis, Saponification, Weak Base
Document Summary
A chemical process that involves the reaction of a substance and water, resulting to the breakdown of the bonds present in the substance. Water acts as a base to break apart a weak acid. Water acts as an acid to break apart a weak base. Note: for acid-base hydrolysis, water acting as either an acid or a base depends on the bronsted-lowry theory on acids and bases: acids donate protons; bases accept protons. Refers to the reaction of salt with water, where it involves the interaction of cations or anions of salts and water. Even absolutely pure water that is expected to consist only of h2o molecules has very small conductance. This property of water lies in its innate ability to undergo autoprotolysis. The chemical equation above shows how a solution containing nothing but water could dissociate itself to form a cation (h+) and an anion (oh-)
