Is the following acid-base reaction Arrhenius, Bronsted-Lowry, or Lewis: H2SO4 + NH3 --> HSO4- + NH4+

1 Answer
Aug 13, 2017

It's all three......

Explanation:

(i) Arrhenius defined the acidium ion as #H^+#.

(ii) Bronsted and Lowry defined the acid base reaction on the basis of proton transfer between acids and bases....

#"Acid + Base "rightleftharpoons" Conjugate acid and conjugate base"#

(iii) Lewis defined the acid as an electron pair acceptor, and the base as an electron-pair donor.

For the reaction.....

#H_2SO_4 + NH_3rarrNH_4^+ + HSO_4^-#

...we can rationalize the observed reactivity on the basis of all three definitions.