Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

Using the pKa values of each compounds conjugate acid, predict the stronger base

ID: 846109 • Letter: U

Question

Using the pKa values of each compounds conjugate acid, predict the stronger base for the compounds listed:
A) H- B)OH- C)NH3

So working problems like this, since it says to use the pKa values of the conjugate acids, does that mean NH3's pKa would be roughly 9 because its conjugate acid is a protonated amine? Making the answer A? I'm trying to understand this so I can apply it to other questions similar to this, so please break this down as simply as possibly for me, or any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

Explanation / Answer

NH4+ <=========> NH3 + H+ ; pKa = 9.25

H2O <=========> OH- + H+ ; pKa = 15.7

H2 <=========> H- + H+ ; pKa = 23.0

As we know that, pKa is inversily proportional to Acidic strength. In other words, pKa is directly proportional to basicity of conjugate base.

From the above values, H- is the strongest base among H-, OH-, NH3.