Sulfuric Acid (H₂SO₄)
The king of industry, the ancestor of acids
Summary
Sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) is the most produced chemical in the world. From fertilisers to oil refineries and from batteries to paints, it is a basic raw material for every industry. Four oxygens surround a central sulfur atom, and two hydrogens are attached to two of the oxygens.
In depth
Sulfuric acid has a tetrahedral geometry: 4 oxygens are arranged around the central sulfur. Two oxygens are double-bonded "terminal" oxygens, and two are part of OH groups (whose hydrogens are acidic). This structure makes H₂SO₄ a strong diprotic acid that gives up both its hydrogens easily (pKa₁ ≈ −3, pKa₂ = 1.99). Industrially it is made by the contact process: SO₂ → SO₃ → H₂SO₄. There was a time when it was said that a country's industrial development could be measured by its annual consumption of sulfuric acid. Today world production approaches 250 million tonnes a year; its biggest use is fertiliser production (especially making phosphoric acid and superphosphate), followed by metal processing, oil refining and chemical synthesis.
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