[kirsch]

Hello all,

I was reading an article on Wikipedia about HF (I searched "hydrogen fluoride"), and it said something along the lines of "when aqueous, known as hydrofluroic acid."

Why isn't HF already deemed an acid, even if not in aqueous form?  Is it not a proton donor?

thanks,

kirsch

[kikistare]

I am pretty sure that it is still concidered an acid as HF.

I found a few sites they say stuff like,"Anhydrous hydrogen fluoride is an extremely strong acid (H0 ~ −11), comparable in strength to anhydrous sulfuric acid (H0 ~ −12)."



Try...
http://www.fluoridealert.org/hydrogen.fluoride.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/hydrogen-fluoride

[Arctic-Nation]

It is still considered an acid. The same problem happens with hydrogen chloride, which only becomes hydrochloric acid upon dissolution in water. Just a naming convention, so it seems.

Though the huge pH difference between hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid doesn't really help, of course.

[KTownGT]

Hmm, I believe it depends on which definition of Acid you use.

It's been awhile, but the definition of an acid is: a compound in an aqueous solution(water) that gives a Hydronium(H3O) concentration greater than in water.

A Bronsted-Lowry acid is simply any substance that can donate a Hydrogen Ion, regardless of which medium it is in.

[Loyal]

The nomenclature is there to distinguish between the gaseous phase or the solute phase.  In the gas phase it reacts a slightly different way.