text: For the deprotonation of acids, K is known as K, the  acid dissociation constant.  Strong acids, such as sulfuric or phosphoric acid, have large dissociation constants; weak acids, such as acetic acid, have small dissociation constants.
  The symbol K, used for the acid dissociation constant, can lead to confusion with the association constant, and it may be necessary to see the reaction or the equilibrium expression to know which is meant.
  Acid dissociation constants are sometimes expressed by pK, which is defined by
  This  notation is seen in other contexts as well; it is mainly used for covalent dissociations (i.e., reactions in which chemical bonds are made or broken) since such dissociation constants can vary greatly.
  A molecule can have several acid dissociation constants. In this regard, that is depending on the number of the protons they can give up, we define monoprotic, diprotic and triprotic acids.  The first (e.g., acetic acid or ammonium) have only one dissociable group, the second (e.g., carbonic acid, bicarbonate, glycine) have two dissociable groups and the third (e.g., phosphoric acid) have three dissociable groups. In the case of multiple pK values they are designated by indices: pK, pK, pK and so on. For amino acids, the pK constant refers to its carboxyl (–COOH) group, pK refers to its amino (–NH) group and the pK is the pK value of its side chain.