Structures of Concentrated Sulfuric Acid Determined from Density, Conductivity, Viscosity, and Raman Spectroscopic Data

Addition of water to stoichiometric 100% sulfuric acid increases the density untila maximum results near 87 mole% H₂SO₄. The density and conductivity maximaand viscosity minimum, the latter two near 75 mole%, are direct macroscopicresponses to microscopic quantum mechanical properties of H₃O⁺ and of nearlysymmetric H-bond double-well potentials, as follows: (1) lack of H bonding tothe O atom of H₃O⁺; (2) short, 2.4–2.6 A, O—O distances of nearly symmetricH bonds; and, (3) increased mobility of protons in such short H bonds, give riseto the density maximum via (1) and (2); (1) produces the viscosity minimum;and the conductivity maximum results from (2) and (3). A pronounced minimumnear 1030 cm^–1 in the symmetric SO₃ stretching Raman frequency of HSO₄^–,observed near 45 mole% also results from double-well effects involving the shortH bonds of direct hydronium ion—bisulfate ion pair interactions. Estimates of theconcentrations of the (H₃O⁺)(HSO₄^–) and (H₂SO₄)(HSO₄^–) pair interactions weredetermined from Raman intensity data and are given for compositions between42–100 mole%