Base (chemistry) - Strong Bases

Strong Bases

A strong base is a basic chemical compound that is able to deprotonate very weak acids in an acid-base reaction. Common examples of strong bases are the hydroxides of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals like NaOH and Ca(OH)2. Very strong bases are even able to deprotonate very weakly acidic C–H groups in the absence of water. Here is a list of several strong bases:

  • Potassium hydroxide (KOH)
  • Barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)2)
  • Caesium hydroxide (CsOH)
  • Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
  • Strontium hydroxide (Sr(OH)2)
  • Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2)
  • Lithium hydroxide (LiOH)
  • Rubidium hydroxide (RbOH)

The cations of these strong bases appear in the first and second groups of the periodic table (alkali and earth alkali metals).

Acids with a pKa of more than about 13 are considered very weak, and their conjugate bases are strong bases.

Read more about this topic:  Base (chemistry)

Famous quotes containing the words strong and/or bases:

    Man is by nature a pragmatic materialist, a mechanic, a lover of gadgets and gadgetry; and these are qualities that characterize the “establishment” which regulates modern society: pragmatism, materialism, mechanization, and gadgetry. Woman, on the other hand, is a practical idealist, a humanitarian with a strong sense of noblesse oblige, an altruist rather than a capitalist.
    Elizabeth Gould Davis (b. 1910)

    In the beginning was the word, the word
    That from the solid bases of the light
    Abstracted all the letters of the void....
    Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)