Questions

1. (a) What was the effect of carbon dioxide on the pH of the water?
Carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water. Carbon dioxide makes water become
acidic.
(b) How does pH relate to hydrogen ion concentration?
pH is a measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions (H +) in a solution. The
relation of pH and H+ ions is given by the formula below:
pH = - lg [H+ ] = lg 1/ [H+ ]
Thus, the higher the concentration of H+ ions, the lower the pH value and the solution
is more acidic. The higher the concentration of OH- ions, the higher the pH value and
the solution is more alkaline. Acidic solution has pH less than 7, neutral solution has
pH of 7 and alkaline solution has pH more than 7.
(c) From your knowledge of biology, explain how carbon dioxide changes the pH.
Carbon dioxide combines with water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid dissociates
to hydrogen ion and bicarbonate ion. The hydrogen ion released will lower the pH
value of the water, make water more acidic. The more carbon dioxide accumulates,
the more hydrogen ion formed, and the lower the pH value.
CO2 + H2O

H2CO3

H+ + HCO3-

2. (a) What sources of carbon dioxide did you use?

Expiration air and reaction between hydrochloric acid with calcium carbonate
2HCl + CaCO3

CaCl2 + CO2 + H2O

(b) Which of these sources is relevant to body physiology? Explain how it is made in the
body.
Expiration air that contains carbon dioxide is relevant to body physiology. Carbon
dioxide produced as by product of cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is a
sequence of enzyme controlled biochemical reactions. It involves the breakdown of
complex organic molecules such as glucose into simpler molecules with the release of

energy and carbon dioxide as by product. The energy released is trapped in the ATP
molecule. The process is termed aerobic respiration if oxygen is used and anaerobic
respiration if oxygen is not used.
(c) Would the change in pH be dangerous for the body? Explain.
Change in the pH will be dangerous for the body. Most enzymes are effective only
within a narrow pH range. The optimum pH is the pH at which the maximum rate of
reaction occurs. Different enzymes have different optimum pH. However, deviations
from this narrow optimum pH range result in excess H + or OH- ions in the medium.
This alters the acidic and basic groups of amino acids in the enzyme causing hydrogen
bonds and ionic bonds to be broken. The specific three dimensional shape of the
enzyme is altered and the enzyme is denatured. The ionic charges on the active site
and the surface of the substrate may also be altered. As the result, the substrate cannot
fit into the active site to form enzyme substrate complex. The biochemical reaction in
the body cannot happen properly and death may occur.
(d) If so, how does the body solve the problem?
Through breathing process, the body eliminates excess carbon dioxide that
accumulates inside the body. The blood carries carbon dioxide from body cells and
transport to lungs. Carbon dioxide diffuses from blood to alveolus and excretes out of
the body through expiration.
3. What essential measurement did you have to make before testing the effect of carbon
dioxide on the water? Why?
We need to measure the pH of the water before adding the carbon dioxide and after adding
the carbon dioxide. This is because carbon dioxide will form carbonic acid with water and
the presence of hydrogen ion in carbonic acid will lower the pH of the water.