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Concept
Chromic acid
Summary
Chromic acid is an inorganic acid composed of the elements chromium, oxygen, and hydrogen. It is a dark, purplish red, odorless, sand-like solid powder. When dissolved in water, it is a strong acid.
There are 2 types of chromic acid, they are: molecular chromic acid with the formula H2CrO4 and dichromic acid with the formula H2Cr2O7.
The term chromic acid is usually used for a mixture made by adding concentrated sulfuric acid to a dichromate, which may contain a variety of compounds, including solid chromium trioxide. This kind of chromic acid may be used as a cleaning mixture for glass. Chromic acid may also refer to the molecular species, H2CrO4 of which the trioxide is the anhydride. Chromic acid features chromium in an oxidation state of +6 (or VI). It is a strong and corrosive oxidising agent and a moderate carcinogen.
Molecular chromic acid, H2CrO4, has much in common with sulfuric acid, H2SO4. Only sulfuric acid can be classified as part of the 7 strong acids list. Due to the laws pertinent to the concept of "first order ionization energy", the first proton is lost most easily. It behaves extremely similarly to sulfuric acid deprotonation. Since the process of polyvalent acid-base titrations have more than one proton (especially when the acid is starting substance and the base is the titrant), protons can only leave an acid one at a time. Hence the first step is as follows:
H2CrO4 [HCrO4]− + H+
The pKa for the equilibrium is not well characterized. Reported values vary between about −0.8 to 1.6. The value at zero ionic strength is difficult to determine because half dissociation only occurs in very acidic solution, at about pH 0, that is, with an acid concentration of about 1 mol dm−3. A further complication is that the ion [HCrO4]− has a marked tendency to dimerize, with the loss of a water molecule, to form the dichromate ion, [Cr2O7]2−:
2 [HCrO4]− [Cr2O7]2− + H2O log KD = 2.05.
Furthermore, the dichromate can be protonated:
[HCr2O7]− [Cr2O7]2− + H+ pK = 1.8
The pK value for this reaction shows that it can be ignored at pH > 4.
Official source
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