(a) Which element is common to all acids?
(b) Compounds such as alcohol and glucose also contain hydrogen but are not categorised as acids. Describe an activity to prove it.
(a) Hydrogen.
(b) Activity:
Take solutions of glucose, alcohol, hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid. Fix two nails on a cork, and place the cork in a 100 ml beaker. Connect the nails to the two terminals of a 6 volt battery through a bulb and a switch. Now pour some dilute HCl in the beaker and switch on the current. The bulb starts glowing. This shows that HCl solution taken in the beaker conducts electricity. If we replace hydrochloric acid with sulphuric acid and perform the experiment, the bulb would glow again. This shows that an aqueous solution of an acid conducts electricity due to the presence of charged particles called ions in it.