{"id":204721,"date":"2025-03-22T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T13:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=204721"},"modified":"2025-03-22T13:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T13:45:15","slug":"find-the-ph-of-0-2-m-a-weak-acid-ha-with-ka-8-80-x-10-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/22\/find-the-ph-of-0-2-m-a-weak-acid-ha-with-ka-8-80-x-10-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Find the pH of 0.2 M a weak acid (HA) with Ka = 8.80 x 10-6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Find the pH of 0.2 M a weak acid (HA) with Ka = 8.80 x 10-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find the pH of a 0.2 M solution of a weak acid (HA) with a given acid dissociation constant (Ka), we can use the following steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Write the dissociation equation of the acid.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For a weak acid HA dissociating in water:<br>[ \\text{HA (aq)} \\rightleftharpoons \\text{H}^+ (aq) + \\text{A}^- (aq) ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Set up the expression for the equilibrium constant (Ka).<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The expression for ( K_a ) is:<br>[<br>K_a = \\frac{[\\text{H}^+][\\text{A}^-]}{[\\text{HA}]}<br>]<br>where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>( [\\text{H}^+] ) is the concentration of hydrogen ions,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>( [\\text{A}^-] ) is the concentration of the conjugate base,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>( [\\text{HA}] ) is the concentration of the weak acid at equilibrium.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Use the ICE (Initial, Change, Equilibrium) table to determine the equilibrium concentrations.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We start with 0.2 M of HA, and initially, no ( \\text{H}^+ ) or ( \\text{A}^- ) ions are present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Species<\/th><th>Initial Concentration<\/th><th>Change in Concentration<\/th><th>Equilibrium Concentration<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>HA<\/td><td>0.2 M<\/td><td>-x<\/td><td>0.2 &#8211; x<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>H\u207a<\/td><td>0 M<\/td><td>+x<\/td><td>x<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A\u207b<\/td><td>0 M<\/td><td>+x<\/td><td>x<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At equilibrium, the concentration of hydrogen ions ( [\\text{H}^+] = x ), and the concentration of HA is ( [\\text{HA}] = 0.2 &#8211; x ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Substitute the equilibrium concentrations into the expression for Ka.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>[<br>K_a = \\frac{x \\cdot x}{0.2 &#8211; x}<br>]<br>Given that ( K_a = 8.80 \\times 10^{-6} ), we can substitute this value:<br>[<br>8.80 \\times 10^{-6} = \\frac{x^2}{0.2 &#8211; x}<br>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 5: Make an assumption for small ( x ).<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the acid dissociates very weakly (due to the small ( K_a )), we can assume that ( x ) will be very small compared to 0.2 M, so we approximate ( 0.2 &#8211; x \\approx 0.2 ). This simplifies the equation to:<br>[<br>8.80 \\times 10^{-6} = \\frac{x^2}{0.2}<br>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 6: Solve for ( x ), the concentration of H\u207a.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>[<br>x^2 = (8.80 \\times 10^{-6}) \\times 0.2<br>]<br>[<br>x^2 = 1.76 \\times 10^{-6}<br>]<br>[<br>x = \\sqrt{1.76 \\times 10^{-6}} = 1.33 \\times 10^{-3} \\, \\text{M}<br>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 7: Calculate the pH.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The pH is given by:<br>[<br>\\text{pH} = -\\log [\\text{H}^+]<br>]<br>Substitute the value of ( x ) (the concentration of H\u207a):<br>[<br>\\text{pH} = -\\log (1.33 \\times 10^{-3}) = 2.876<br>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Answer:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The pH of the 0.2 M weak acid solution is approximately <strong>2.88<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To find the pH of a weak acid solution, we used the acid dissociation constant ( K_a ) and an equilibrium approach. The dissociation of the acid is minimal, so we made the assumption that ( x ) is very small, which simplifies the calculations. The result shows that the solution is acidic, with a pH of 2.88, indicating that the acid does not fully dissociate in water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Find the pH of 0.2 M a weak acid (HA) with Ka = 8.80 x 10-6. The correct answer and explanation is : To find the pH of a 0.2 M solution of a weak acid (HA) with a given acid dissociation constant (Ka), we can use the following steps: Step 1: Write the dissociation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}