- #1
Lancelot59
- 646
- 1
Ok, so I understand the relationships between the basic forms of acid/base equilbriums:
KW=(Ka)(Kb)
Kw being the ionization constant of water, with Ka,and Kb being the ionization constants for acids and bases respectively.
Then there's pKW = pH + pOH
However I get confused when I get to pKa and pKb. I can't really wrap my head around what exactly these mean. It's a similar story with pH and pOH. All I know is that they're a numeric measure of acidity or basic properties, and their mathematic definition as the negative log of the concentration of hydronium/hydroxide respectively.
How do pKa and pKb relate back to everything else? Also could I get a better definition of pH/pOH, or is my definition good enough?
KW=(Ka)(Kb)
Kw being the ionization constant of water, with Ka,and Kb being the ionization constants for acids and bases respectively.
Then there's pKW = pH + pOH
However I get confused when I get to pKa and pKb. I can't really wrap my head around what exactly these mean. It's a similar story with pH and pOH. All I know is that they're a numeric measure of acidity or basic properties, and their mathematic definition as the negative log of the concentration of hydronium/hydroxide respectively.
How do pKa and pKb relate back to everything else? Also could I get a better definition of pH/pOH, or is my definition good enough?