Johanes N. Bronsted dan Thomas M. Lowry
The difficulty of fitting NH3 into a general scheme of acids and bases was solved in 1923 by Johannes Brönsted and Thomas Lowry, who defined an acid as a proton donor and a base as a proton acceptor.
Thus NH3 acts as a base and accepts a proton (H+) from H2O, and H2O acts as an acid in donating a proton to NH3.
NH4+ ion is formed because H2O donates a H+ ion (proton) to NH3 so NH3 is a base and NH4+ is its conjugate acid, while H2O is an acid and OH- is its conjugate base.
Asam H+ + Cojugate base
Look the example as follow:
HCl |
| H+ | + | Cl- |
H2O |
| H+ | + | OH- |
From that example Cl- and OH- conjugate base.
Basa + H+ conjugate acid
Base | + | Proton |
| Cojugate acid |
NH3 | + | H+ |
| NH4+ |
H2O | + | H+ |
| H3O+ |
