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Buer solutions
quantic-bolt
Weak acids and bases
Weak acids and bases are acids and bases which don't dissociate to a great extent in water. For example, consider acetic acid
(CH3 COOH), which has ka = 1.75 105 . Writing the equilibrium expression for the dissociation of acetic acid in water, we
then obtain, the following:
Titration of a weak acid with a strong base
Assuming that we wish to observe the generation of a buer system, let's consider an example in which 50 mL of 1 M sodium
hydroxide is used to titrate 50 mL of 1 M acetic acid, by the reaction:
H2 O produced (mol)
pHn
2.37
4.00
4.38
4.66
4.93
5.22
5.70
Because there is initially no conjugate base (CH3 COO- ) present initially, it isn't possible to use the Henderson-Hasselbalch
equation to calculate the initial pH of the solution. However, knowing the equilibrium constant for acetic acid, we can simply
use the equilibrium expression instead, to determine the concentration of H+ ions present in solution, and then the negative
logarithm of that to obtain pH. Hence:
After this however, due to the presence of conjugate base, it's possible to use the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation to calculate
the pH:
CH3 COO
0.0075
] = log10 (1.75 105 ) + log10 (
) = 4.75 0.75 = 4.00
CH3 COOH
0.0425
It's important to note here, that it is acceptable to ignore the volume change upon addition of NaOH, as the moles of conjugate
acid/base, will yield the same ratio if they are expressed as concentrations instead (i.e. the volume terms cancel out in the
division). Repeating this process a few more iterations, yields the results in Table 1. We can then plot this information in the
form of a titration curve (Figure 1).
sEK,>
What's important to note in this graph, is the central region in which pH doesn't change drastically, when compared to the
pH changes at either end of the graph. This zone is referred to as the buer region, and occurs at the half-equivalance point.
The reason for its occurrence at the half-equivalence point is that it is at this point, where moles of conjugate acid/base are
equivalent, where, pH = pka , by the Henderson-Hasselbaclh equation.