Concentrated sulfuric acid

is a water mixture with an

acid concentration of 18
mol/L.
Hydrogen sulfate is an oily dense liquid
that freezes at 10C.
Hydrogen sulfate mixes with water very
exothermically.
The molecule contains a
tetrahedral arrangement
of oxygen atoms around
the central sulfur atom
1. Dilute sulfuric acid is used most often as an acid.
It is a strong, diprotic acid, forming two ions, the
hydrogen sulfate ion and the sulfate ion:
The first equilibrium lies far to the right, but the
second one, less so. Thus, the predominant species
in a solution of sulfuric acid are the hydronium ion
and the hydrogen sulfate ion.
2. Sulfuric acid can also act as a dehydrating agent. The
concentrated acid will remove the elements of water from a
number of compounds. For example, sugar is converted to
carbon and water. This exothermic reaction is spectacular:
The acid serves this function in a number of important organic
reactions. For example, addition of concentrated sulfuric acid to
ethanol produces ethene, C2H4, or ethoxyethane, (C2H5)2O,
depending on the reaction conditions:
3. Although sulfuric acid is not as strongly
oxidizing as nitric acid, if it is hot and
concentrated, it will function as an oxidizing
agent. For example, hot concentrated sulfuric
acid reacts with copper metal to give the
copper(II) ion, and the sulfuric acid itself is
reduced to sulfur dioxide and water:
4. Sulfuric acid can act as a sulfonating agent. The
concentrated acid is used in organic chemistry to
replace a hydrogen atom by the sulfonic acid group (-
SO3H):
5. In special circumstances, sulfuric acid can behave
as a base. A Bronsted-Lowry acid can only act as a
base if it is added to a stronger proton donor.
Sulfuric acid is a very strong acid; hence, only
extremely strong acids such as fluorosulfonic acid
can cause it to behave as a base:
The Industrial Synthesis of Sulfuric Acid
Sulfuric acid is synthesized in larger quantities than
any other chemical. All synthetic routes use sulfur
dioxide, and in some plants this reactant is obtained
directly from the flue gases of smelting processes.
However, in North America most of the sulfur dioxide
is produced by burning molten sulfur in dry air:
In the contact process, pure, dry sulfur dioxide and
dry air are passed through a catalyst of vanadium(V)
oxide on an inert support. The gas mixture is heated
to between 400 and 500C, which is the optimum
temperature for conversion to sulfur trioxide with a
reasonable yield at an acceptable rate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_jVA4xVKEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3nDPGKKuS0
Use of the sulfuric acid
In the United States, the vast majority of acid is
employed in the manufacture of fertilizers, such
as the conversion of the insoluble calcium
phosphate to the more soluble calcium
dihydrogen phosphate:
In Europe, however, a higher proportion of the acid is
used for manufacturing other products such as paints,
pigments, and sulfonate detergents.
Generally used in acids, glue, oil purifying baths
electroplating, herbicides, fertilizers, mineral refining
and vegetable oils in the leather industry, as agent in
the production of explosives, and other. It has a wide
application in the dehydration of ethers, esters and
gases