Answer: The formic acid is 3.5 times stronger than acetic acid.
Explanation:
The strength of an acid depends on its acid dissociation constant.
For a hypothetical monoprotic acid HA, the dissociation equilibrium is:
[tex]HA\rightleftharpoons H^++A^-[/tex]
[tex]K_a=\frac{[H^+][A^-]}{[HA]}[/tex]
More is the value of [tex]K_a[/tex] , greater is the dissociation and stronger is the acid.
[tex]\frac{Strength_{\text {formic acid}}}{Strength_{\text {acetic acid}}}=\sqrt{\frac{2.14\times 10^{-4}}{1.81\times 10^{-5}}}=3.5[/tex]
Thus formic acid is 3.5 times stronger than acetic acid.
