The Strongest Acids in the World

Inside chemistry labs, chemists work with what they call superacids. No one’s found a specific use for such a fantastically strong acid yet, but chemists are actively looking for one. Hosted by: Michael Aranda ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters—we couldn't make SciShow without them! Shout out to Bella Nash, Kevin Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, Patrick Merrithew, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Benny, Kyle Anderson, Tim Curwick, Will and Sonja Marple, Philippe von Bergen, Bryce Daifuku, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Charles George, Bader AlGhamdi ---------- Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/scishow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: http://web.chem.ucsb.edu/~devries/chem150/lecture%20notes/AcidsandBases.pdf http://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Acids_and_Bases/Acid/Lewis_Concept_of_Acids_and_Bases, https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/netorial/rottosen/tutorial/modules/acid_base/06lewis/lewis1.htm http://water.usgs.gov/edu/ph.html http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pH http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ph-d_483.html http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_AcidsBasespHScale.shtml http://www2.latech.edu/~upali/chem481/chem481c4.pdf http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jo00372a003 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780124338418 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed083p1465 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/ph.html http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja00797a013 https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sulfuric_acid#section=Heat-of-Vaporization http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/339741?lang=en®ion=US https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@rn+@rel+7664-93-9 http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/mv_sulfuric_acid.htm http://www.org-chem.org/yuuki/acid/acid_en.html http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jo040285o https://books.google.com/books?id=1jb9BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Organic+Chemistry:+The+Name+Game:+Modern+Coined+Terms+and+Their+Origins&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlwOjP85TQAhUH1oMKHYh4AnQQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q&f=false http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja01411a010 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1994/press.html http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jo040285o http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/tutorials/cc.pdf http://chemistry.about.com/od/acids/f/What-Are-The-Uses-Of-Superacids.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvhLtiBDJ3s https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=19 A few popular sources say fluoroantimonic acid’s Hammett acidity function is -31.3 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroantimonic_acid, http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/08/the-worlds-strongest-acids.html), but actually it’s only -28: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jo040285o http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924285 http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/08/the-worlds-strongest-acids.html https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pac.1977.49.issue-1/pac197749010107/pac197749010107.xml http://www.org-chem.org/yuuki/acid/acid_en.html http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja01571a016 https://books.google.com/books?id=poO9RHq-IoIC&pg=PA150#v=onepage&q&f=false