Are acids covalently bonded or ioncally bonded?

Question

Are acids bonded ionically and bases covalently or is it vice versa?

just the most basic thing, i'm just learning about acids and bases, just the H+ and the OH- in general are acids bonded ionically and bases covalently?

Answer 1

A little bit of both. Acids like HCl or HCN are ionically bonded. Oxyacids like NO2OH (nitric acid) or SO2(OH)2 (sulfuric acid) are covalently bonded. The strong bases are ionically bonded, .

Answer 2

There is more than one defiintion of acid and base, but I think you are using the H+/OH- definition.

In an acid such as H-Cl, the hydrogen is covalently bonded, but when HCl dissolves in water it idissociates into Cl- and H3O+.

A strong base such as NaOH consists of Na+ cations and OH- anions, which go their separate ways in solution in water. A weak base such as ammonia reacts with water to a small extent to give hydroxide:

NH3 + H2O <=> NH4+ + OH-

So don't try to remember approximate rules like the one in your question; think what those molecules are really dong to each other.