Acidity

"Weak" and "strong" describe only the rate at which an acid releases it's proton. If there is any non-negligible equilibrium where the acid is protonated then it's a weak acid.

Specifically, for the reaction
HA <-> H+ + A-
If the pKa value, where Ka=[H+][A-]/[HA] and pKa=-log10 (Ka), is less than -1.74, the acid is strong. The dissociation reaction is so heavily favored that no backward reaction can accumulate HA molecules.

You need to clarify what you mean by "strong" and "weak". These terms do not necessarily refer to how good an acid is at dissolving things. Rather, they refer to how easily the molecules give up their H+ ions.

>>8551905
That makes sense, thanks

Now, let's talk about colloquial meanings of the words "weak" and "strong". Since those are terms of art for chemistry, let's speak more generally, and say "highly corrosive" and "poorly corrosive".

Your intuition is more correct here. The ability of an acid to corrode something will depend on its concentration (if you want it done in any reasonable amount of time) and the specific chemistry of the acid and the substrate.

So yes, you can make a solution of hydrochloric acid you could wash your hands with and be fine, and you could make a vat of highly concentrated weak acid that would rip your tissue apart like wrapping paper on a child's birthday.

>>8551892
No. A strong acid is an acid that completely dissolves into its constituent ions.

Need some help from fellow chemfags. I worked with Boric acid in a molar mass identification experiment and I'm trying to find its activity coefficient through the vant Hoff factor, but I need the n parameter of Boric acid and I can't figure it out. My experimental i parameter came out as ~2.