What is a Bronsted Base?
Answers
Brønsted–Lowry theory, also called proton theory of acids and bases, a theory, introduced independently in 1923 by the Danish chemist Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and the English chemist Thomas Martin Lowry, stating that any compound that can transfer a proton to any other compound is an acid, and the compound that accepts the proton is a base. A proton is a nuclear particle with a unit positive electrical charge; it is represented by the symbol H
+
because it constitutes the nucleus of a hydrogen atom.
According to the Brønsted–Lowry scheme a substance can function as an acid only in the presence of a base; similarly, a substance can function as a base only in the presence of an acid. Furthermore, when an acidic substance loses a proton, it forms a base, called the conjugate base of an acid, and when a basic substance gains a proton, it forms an acid called the conjugate acid of a base. Thus, the reaction between an acidic substance, such as hydrochloric acid, and a basic substance, such as ammonia, may be represented