Ethanol Arrhenius Acid?

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MedPR

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So why can't ethanol be an arrhenius acid? Couldn't it be reacted with something in aqueous solution to form H3O+?
 
I'm not sure if this is the right answer but lets see if this makes sense..

Arrhenius acid is one that forms H3O+ in water, which would require water to be more basic than the acid in question. the pKa of water is ~15.74, and the pKa of ethanol is 16 so wouldn't ethanol technically act as a base and turn into CH3CH2OH2+ ?
 
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I'm not sure if this is the right answer but lets see if this makes sense..

Arrhenius acid is one that forms H3O+ in water, which would require water to be more basic than the acid in question. the pKa of water is ~15.74, and the pKa of ethanol is 16 so wouldn't ethanol technically act as a base and turn into CH3CH2OH2+ ?

Yea I think you're right. I figured since acids sometimes act as bases that they might be arrhenius. Oh well, thanks!
 
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So the main point to remember is that in order for something to be an arrenhius acid it needs to be able to form H3O+ when reacting with H2O? If it forms H3O+ with any other compound it doesn't count?
 
So the main point to remember is that in order for something to be an arrenhius acid it needs to be able to form H3O+ when reacting with H2O? If it forms H3O+ with any other compound it doesn't count?

I guess so.
 

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