The weak acid is represented by? Choose one: the gray and green spheres the gray and purple spheres the gray and yellow spheres

The figure shows a solution containing three binary acids, one of the three is a weak acid and the other two are strong acids. enter image source here

The strong acids are represented by

Choose one:
A. the gray, yellow, and green spheres
B. the gray and green spheres
C. the gray, purple, and green spheres
D. the gray, purple, and yellow spheres
E. the gray and purple spheres
F. the gray and yellow spheres

1 Answer
Feb 19, 2018

The weak acid is the gray and yellow spheres.

Explanation:

First off, a compound that forms ions has to have positive and negative ions, and only the gray ions are positive. So, the only possible compounds are gray-green, gray-purple and gray-yellow.

A weak acid is one where not all the molecules are dissociated in solution. Here we see some gray-yellow molecules are not dissociated so gray-yellow is a weak acid not a strong one. The other combinations of positive and negative ions, gray-green and gray-purple, have no molecules in solution and so are strong acids.