Two way + a third to get you started:
1. Experience--after practicing chemistry as a chemist or a student, one learns acids that are weak and/or strong.
2. Look in a text for the table of ionization constants. Usually there is one table for acids and another for bases. If a Ka or Kb is listed it is weak; otherwise it is strong.
3. About the only weak inorganic base is NH3. Most organic bases (those -NH2 compounds) are weak. Others are strong; i.e., NaOH, KOH, Ba(OH)2, etc.
How do you know when a base is weak or strong?
1 answer