Examine the false statement.
Weak acids always have a high pH.
Select the rewording that makes the statement true
strong acids always have a high pH
weak acids always partially dissociate
strong acids always have a low pH
weak acids always fully dissociate
is it a
Weak acids always partially dissociate.
The correct rewording that makes the statement true is: "Weak acids always partially dissociate."
The false statement in the original question is "Weak acids always have a high pH." To correct this false statement, we need to select the rewording that makes the statement true.
The correct rewording that makes the statement true is "Weak acids always partially dissociate."
Explanation:
To understand why weak acids do not always have a high pH, it is important to understand the concept of pH and how acids behave.
pH is a measure of how acidic or basic a solution is on a scale from 0 to 14. A pH below 7 indicates acidity, a pH of 7 indicates neutrality, and a pH above 7 indicates basicity.
In general, acids are substances that release hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolved in water. The concentration of these hydrogen ions determines the acidity of the solution. Strong acids completely dissociate in water, meaning that they release all of their hydrogen ions. On the other hand, weak acids only partially dissociate, meaning that they release some, but not all, of their hydrogen ions.
Since pH measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution, strong acids, which fully dissociate and release a high concentration of hydrogen ions, tend to have a low pH. Conversely, weak acids, which only partially dissociate and release a lower concentration of hydrogen ions, tend to have a higher pH compared to strong acids.
So, the corrected statement "Weak acids always partially dissociate" is accurate because it acknowledges that weak acids do not fully dissociate, leading to a lower concentration of hydrogen ions and, therefore, a higher pH than strong acids.