The hydrogen halides of HCl, HBr and HI are all considered strong acids. However, HF is a weak acid. What factor is most responsible for this difference?
1 Answer
Explanation:
Good question, and you're not likely to get a wholly satisfactory answer. Two factors are important here: (i) the strength of the
Now, it is well known that the
The charge density of the fluoride anion is also differentiating, and this is probably the decisive effect. The
This is a very old inorganic chesnut. The consensus of opinion is that the entropy effect dominates, and that the lower acidity of
Also see this site.