In other words, the product of the acid ionization constant and the base ionization constant of the conjugate base yields the water ionization constant. When the acid and base ionization constants are converted to the negative logs, the following relationship holds:
Equation (12) implies that the acid ionization constant and the base ionization constant are inversely related. Therefore, an acid with a lower (i.e., the acid does not ionize as much, which implies that the acid is a weak acid) must have a conjugate base with a higher (i.e., the base dissociates almost completely, which implies that the base is a strong base). Strong acids have weak conjugate bases; weak acids have strong conjugate bases. Strong bases have weak conjugate acids; weak bases have strong conjugate acids.
