Bicarbonate bicarbonate – in conjunction with water, hydrogen ions, and carbon dioxide – forms this buffering system, which is maintained at the volatile equilibrium required to provide prompt resistance to pH changes in both the acidic and basic directions. This is especially important for protecting tissues of the central nervous system, where pH changes too far outside of the normal range in either direction could prove disastrous (see acidosis or alkalosis). Bicarbonate also serves much in the digestive system. It raises the internal pH of the stomach, after highly acidic digestive juices have finished in their digestion of food. Bicarbonate also
Acidic oxide Acidic oxide Acidic oxides, or acid anhydrides, are oxides that react with water to form an acid, or with a base to form a salt. They are oxides of either nonmetals or of metals in high oxidation states. Their chemistry can be systematically understood by taking an oxoacid and removing water from it, until only an oxide remains. The resulting oxide belongs to this group of substances. An inorganic anhydride (a somewhat archaic term) is acid anhydride without an organic moiety. Acidic oxides are not Brønsted–Lowry acids because they do not donate protons; however, they are Arrhenius acids because they