Complete this Bronsted-Lowry reaction, placing each product by it's appropriate label.
HSO4- + BrO- <--> ____ (ACID) + ____ (BASE)
HSO4- + BrO- <--> HBrO + SO42- (ACID) + (BASE)
Well, the HSO4- donates a proton (acting as an acid) to the BrO- to form HBrO, which is the acid product. Meanwhile, the HSO4- is left with an extra electron, making it the base product in this reaction.
In this Bronsted-Lowry reaction, the HSO4- acts as an acid and donates a proton (H+) while the BrO- acts as a base and accepts the proton. Here's how the reaction can be completed:
HSO4- + BrO- ⇌ HBrO + SO4^2-
In the above reaction, HSO4- is the acid because it donates the proton (H+), and BrO- is the base because it accepts the proton. The products of the reaction are HBrO (labelled as acid because it gained a proton) and SO4^2- (labelled as base because it lost a proton).
To complete the Bronsted-Lowry reaction, we need to identify the acid and base products.
Bronsted-Lowry acid: An acid is a substance that donates a proton (H+).
Bronsted-Lowry base: A base is a substance that accepts a proton (H+).
In this reaction, HSO4- is a Bronsted-Lowry acid because it can donate a proton (H+) to another species. BrO- is a Bronsted-Lowry base because it can accept a proton (H+).
To complete the reaction, we can write it as follows:
HSO4- + BrO- <--> H2SO4 (ACID) + BrOH (BASE)
In this reaction, HSO4- donates a proton (H+) to BrO- and forms H2SO4, which is an acid. BrO- accepts the proton (H+) and forms BrOH, which is a base.
Students often make this type problem so much harder than it is. The acid is the one with more H ions; the base is the one with fewer H ions.
HSO4^- + BrO^- ==> HBrO + SO4^2-
So the pairs are HSO4^- and SO4^2-
with the other pair BrO^- and HBrO.
For the pair then the HSO4^- must be the acid because it contains more H than SO4^2-. Of course the SO4^2- must be the base since it contains no H at all.