Acids
/ˈæsɪdz/
nounIntermediate🔥Very CommonScience
1 meaning2 questions
Definitions
1
A sour-tasting chemical compound that reacts with a base to form a salt, and that typically contains replaceable hydrogen atoms.
/ˈæsɪdz/
nounneutralIntermediate
Science
A chemical substance that typically has a sour taste, reacts with a base to form a salt, and typically contains hydrogen that can be replaced by a metal.
Lemons contain citric acid.
💡 Simply: A substance that is sour and can react with other substances.
More Examples
2
Battery acid is corrosive.
How It's Used
Chemistry
"Sulfuric acid is a strong acid."
Biology
"The stomach produces hydrochloric acid to aid digestion."
From Latin *acidus "sour, sharp," from *acere "to be sharp, sour." The chemical sense developed in the 17th century.
The word 'acid' has been used to describe sour-tasting substances since ancient times. The chemical understanding of acids evolved gradually over centuries.
Memory tip
Think of 'acid' as something that can 'eat' away at things, like metal.
Word Origin
Original meaning
"sour, sharp"
strong acidweak acidamino acidscarboxylic acids
Common misspellings
accideasidsacis
Practice
Usage
60%Spoken
40%Written