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Topic: two equilibria at work simultaneously  (Read 2102 times)

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Offline sodium.dioxid

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two equilibria at work simultaneously
« on: May 21, 2012, 11:19:08 PM »
Out of a particular confusion of mine which is difficult to communicate to you, I made up a question and answered it. Is my answer correct?

Question:
A weak acid increases the equilibrium hydronium concentration of water by 1.00x10-8M. Is [ionized acid] greater than this number?

Answer:
I think the answer is yes because there are two equilibria at work here; Ka AND Kw. As H3O+ is increasing, some of it is simultaneously being used up to make H2O so that the Kw remains at it's constant value. Therefore, more H3O+ was actually used than what the change suggests.
In fact, I think [ionized acid] = Δ [H3O+] + -Δ [OH-]

Is my analysis correct?


Offline Borek

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Re: two equilibria at work simultaneously
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2012, 03:22:44 AM »
Yes.
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