- #1
Shafty
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The pKa for the dissociation of H3PO4 is 2.15. What is the concentration of H2PO4-1 (in M) at pH 3.21 if the original concentration of the phosphate was 2.37 M?
My Attempt:
Key Information:
pH final: 3.21
Initial Molarity of phosphate: 2.37 M
pKa: 2.15
I started with the first dissociation of the weak acid into its proton and conjugate base.
The stoicheometry is as follows:
H3PO4 <-----> H3O+ + H2PO4-
I am only looking at the first dissociation constant K1.
pKa = -log Ka
2.15 = -log Ka = 10^-2.15 = 7.08e-3
-----This is where I am stuck------
When the question refers to the "original concentration of the phosphate", is it referring to the conjugate base or the original acid? When I try to set up an "ICE table" plugging the given molarity into the "Initial" conjugate base column, I end up with too many unknowns and can not solve quadratically. Yet when I plug the Molarity into the [HA] column I get values that do not make sense. I understand that:
Ka= [H+][A-]/[HA]
If I gloss over this middle step I can continue to find the concentration of H2PO4- ions in the final solution. Since the first dissociation is 1:1, the concentration of H+ ions will be the same as the concentration of H2PO4- ions. Therefore:
pH = 3.21 = 10^-3.21 = 6.17e-4 M
I feel like I am missing a crucial part of this problem (obviously, since my attempts have yielded wrong answers). I have solved for the original pH of the solution at 2.37 M (0.89), I just don't know how to pull all the pieces together to solve the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
My Attempt:
Key Information:
pH final: 3.21
Initial Molarity of phosphate: 2.37 M
pKa: 2.15
I started with the first dissociation of the weak acid into its proton and conjugate base.
The stoicheometry is as follows:
H3PO4 <-----> H3O+ + H2PO4-
I am only looking at the first dissociation constant K1.
pKa = -log Ka
2.15 = -log Ka = 10^-2.15 = 7.08e-3
-----This is where I am stuck------
When the question refers to the "original concentration of the phosphate", is it referring to the conjugate base or the original acid? When I try to set up an "ICE table" plugging the given molarity into the "Initial" conjugate base column, I end up with too many unknowns and can not solve quadratically. Yet when I plug the Molarity into the [HA] column I get values that do not make sense. I understand that:
Ka= [H+][A-]/[HA]
If I gloss over this middle step I can continue to find the concentration of H2PO4- ions in the final solution. Since the first dissociation is 1:1, the concentration of H+ ions will be the same as the concentration of H2PO4- ions. Therefore:
pH = 3.21 = 10^-3.21 = 6.17e-4 M
I feel like I am missing a crucial part of this problem (obviously, since my attempts have yielded wrong answers). I have solved for the original pH of the solution at 2.37 M (0.89), I just don't know how to pull all the pieces together to solve the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.