Limitations of Arrhenius concept

1.	Limitations of Arrhenius concept
Answer» (i) Limited scope: Arrhenius concept is limited to aqueous medium only. It fails to explain the behaviour of acids and bases in a non-aqueous solvent like ammonia,sulphur dioxide,alcohol, etc.(ii) According to Arrhenius, the acidic and basic properties are due to H+\xa0and OH–ions respectively. However, these ions do not exist as such that readily get hydrated and represented as H+\xa0(aq) and OH–\xa0(aq).(iii) It fails to explain the acidic nature of CO2, SO2, SO3, N2O5\xa0which do not contain any hydrogen.(iv) It fails to explain the basic nature of CaO, NH3,Na2CO3\xa0which do not contain any hydroxyl group.

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