Acid

An acid is a substance that donates protons in the Brønsted–Lowry framework or accepts an electron pair in the Lewis framework. These definitions capture related but distinct ways substances participate in acid–base reactions.

Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory: A framework in which acids donate protons and bases accept them. It defines acids through proton transfer between reacting partners.
Proton: A positively charged subatomic particle and the nucleus of ordinary hydrogen. Brønsted acids donate hydrogen ions, which are protons in aqueous chemistry.
Sulfuric acid: A strong diprotic mineral acid with the formula H₂SO₄. It is a major industrial acid used in fertilizer production and chemical processing.
Base: A substance that accepts protons in Brønsted–Lowry theory or donates electron pairs in Lewis theory. It is the reaction partner that accepts what a Brønsted acid donates.
Antoine Lavoisier: An eighteenth-century French chemist who helped establish modern chemical nomenclature and conservation of mass. His oxygen-based account of acidity shaped early chemical explanations before it was overturned.
Lewis acid–base theory: A framework in which acids accept electron pairs and bases donate them. It includes acid reactions that do not involve proton transfer.
Electron pair: Two electrons occupying the same orbital or forming a shared chemical bond. Lewis acids accept such pairs to form a chemical bond.
Hydrochloric acid: A strong aqueous acid formed by dissolving hydrogen chloride in water. It is a digestive acid in the stomach and a common industrial reagent.
Acid strength: The tendency of an acid to ionize or donate a proton under specified conditions. Strength describes ionization tendency, not how much acid a sample contains.
Humphry Davy: An English chemist whose experiments established that hydrochloric acid contains no oxygen. His work challenged Lavoisier’s claim that oxygen was essential to acids.

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