Why are acids corrosive? I'm in the second year of my biochem major, taking organic chemistry, and I feel like I've learned a lot about acids. The most popularly recognizable property of acids is their corrosive power. There are pop-culture depictions of acids everywhere, and all they seem to do is corrode stuff. Yet, with all I've learned about them, it's never been explained to me why they have this property, or how and when it works.
Strong acids disassociate completely, weak acids do less so. When they do disassociate in water, they form $\ce{H3O+}$. This pulls the electrons from the thing it is reacting with. Lets take this to be Fe. ($\ce{H3O+}$ rips the electrons from the substance). So the reaction would go something like: $\ce{Fe + 2H3O+ -&gt; Fe^2+ + 2H2O + H2}$. The $\ce{Fe^2+}$ formed is soluble in water. This also reacts with the other ion from the acid. This is what makes the acids corrosive.