• The acidity of an aqueous solution depends on the number of?H+?(H3O+) ions in solution
• The?pH?is defined as:

pH = -log[H+]

• • where [H+] is the concentration of hydrogen ions in mol dm–3
• Similarly, the?concentration?of?H+?of a solution can be calculated if the pH is known by rearranging the above equation to:

[H+] = 10-pH

• The pH scale is a logarithmic scale with base 10
• This means that each value is 10 times the value below it. For example, pH 5 is 10 times more acidic than pH 6.
• pH values are usually given to 2 decimal places
• The relationship between concentration is easily seen on the following table

pH & [H+] Table

Answer

Answer 1:

The pH of the solution is:

pH? = -log[H+]

= -log 1.6 x 10-4

= 3.80

Answer 2:

The hydrogen concentration can be calculated by rearranging the equation for pH

pH? ?= -log[H+]

[H+] = 10-pH

= 10-3.10

= 7.94 x 10-4?mol dm-3

Answer

The correct option is?C.

• • The total volume after dilution is 1000.0 cm3?so the concentration of H+?has been?reduced?by a factor of 100 or 10-2, which means an increase of 2 pH units
  • The final solution is therefore?pH 3

   

Strong acids

• Strong acids?are completely?ionised?in solution

HA (aq) → H+?(aq) + A-?(aq)

• Therefore, the concentration of hydrogen ions, H+, is?equal?to the concentration of acid, HA
• The number of hydrogen ions formed from the ionisation of water is?very small?relative to the [H+] due to ionisation of the strong acid and can therefore be?neglected
• The?total?[H+] is therefore the same as the [HA]

Answer

[HCl] = [H+] = 0.01 mol dm-3

pH = - log[H+]

pH = - log[0.01] = 2.00

The pH of dibasic acids

• Dibasic or diprotic acids have two replaceable protons and will react in a 1:2 ratio with bases
• Sulfuric acid is an example

H2SO4?(aq)??+ 2NaOH?(aq)?→ Na2SO4?(aq) + 2H2O?(l)

• You might think that being a strong acid it is fully ionised so the concentration of the hydrogen is double the concentration of the acid
• This would mean that 0.1 mol dm-3?would be 0.2 mol dm-3?in [H+] and have a pH of 0.69
• However, measurements of the pH of? 0.1 mol dm-3?sulfuric acid show that it is actually about pH 0.98, which indicates it is not fully ionised
• The ionisation of sulfuric acid occurs in two steps

H2SO4?→ HSO4-?+ H+

HSO4-?? SO42-?+ H+

• Although the first step is thought to be fully ionised, the second step is suppressed by the abundance of hydrogen ions from the first step creating an equilibrium
• The result is that the hydrogen ion concentration is less than double the acid concentration