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- TL;DR
- Why are metals in aqueous solution basic, and non-metals in water acidic?
I heard an explanation about something being a better proton acceptor or lone pair donor but that doesn't make sense. I couldn't explain in in terms of acid-base theory.
The hand-waving way I saw it was that metals are less electronegative than non-metals, so in water, they'll donate their electron to the hydrogen, the hydrogen will break away from the oxygen because hydrogen hates oxygen hogging its electrons, and because hydrogen electronegative enough.
With non-metals, my hand-waving is that metals are more electronegative, when they bond with water, they'll just form one bigger molecule because they suck on other's electrons without letting go and form one big acid molecule where the least electronegative thing in there is a hydrogen, which falls of into a proton, and it may or may not be polyprotic.
The hand-waving way I saw it was that metals are less electronegative than non-metals, so in water, they'll donate their electron to the hydrogen, the hydrogen will break away from the oxygen because hydrogen hates oxygen hogging its electrons, and because hydrogen electronegative enough.
With non-metals, my hand-waving is that metals are more electronegative, when they bond with water, they'll just form one bigger molecule because they suck on other's electrons without letting go and form one big acid molecule where the least electronegative thing in there is a hydrogen, which falls of into a proton, and it may or may not be polyprotic.
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