Hydrogen cyanide has the chemical formula HCN. The compound occurs as a colourless gas or a pale blue liquid. Its solution in water is called hydrocyanic acid. It reacts with water as per the reaction below. What is the pH of 0.176 mol/L solution of the above acid (K = 4.98 x 10' )? HCN(aq) + H2O(l) → CN¯(aq) + H2O+(aq) a

Acids You make a solution by dissolving 0.0010 mol of HCl in enough water to make 1.0 L of solution. a Write the chemical equation for the reaction of HCl(aq) and water. b Without performing calculations, give a rough estimate of the pH of the HCl solution. Justify your answer. c Calculate the H3O+ concentration and the pH of the solution. d Is there any concentration of the base OH present in this solution of HCl(aq)? If so, where did it come from? e If you increase the OH concentration of the solution by adding NaOH, does the H3O+ concentration change? If you think it does, explain why this change occurs and whether the H3O+ concentration increases or decreases. f If you were to measure the pH of 10 drops of the original HCl solution, would you expect it to be different from the pH of the entire sample? Explain. g Explain how two different volumes of your original HCl solution can have the same pH yet contain different moles of H3O+. h If 1.0 L of pure water were added to the HCl solution, would this have any impact on the pH? Explain.

The hydrogen phthalate ion, C8HsO4, is a weak acid with Ka = 3.91 106. C8H5O4(aq)+H2O(l)C8H4O42(aq)+H3O+(aq) What is the pH of a 0.050 M solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate. KC8H5O4? Note: To find the pH for a solution of the anion, we must take into account that the ion is amphiprotic. It can be shown that, for most cases of amphiprotic ions, the H3O+ concentration is [H3O+]=Ka1Ka2 For phthalic acid, C8H6O4 is Ka1 is 1.12 103, and Ka2 is 3.91 106.

For conjugate acidbase pairs, how are Ka and Kb related? Consider the reaction of acetic acid in water CH3CO2H(aq)+H2O(l)CH3CO2(aq)+H3O+(aq) where Ka = 1.8 105 a. Which two bases are competing for the proton? b. Which is the stronger base? c. In light of your answer to part b. why do we classify the acetate ion (CH3CO2) as a weak base? Use an appropriate reaction to justify your answer. In general, as base strength increases, conjugate acid strength decreases. Explain why the conjugate acid of the weak base NH3 is a weak acid. To summarize, the conjugate base of a weak acid is a weak base and the conjugate acid of a weak base is a weak acid (weak gives you weak). Assuming Ka for a monoprotic strong acid is 1 106, calculate Kb for the conjugate base of this strong acid. Why do conjugate bases of strong acids have no basic properties in water? List the conjugate bases of the six common strong acids. To tie it all together, some instructors have students think of Li+, K+, Rb+, Cs+, Ca2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ as the conjugate acids of the strong bases LiOH, KOH. RbOH, CsOH, Ca(OH)2, Sr(OH)2, and Ba(OH)2. Although not technically correct, the conjugate acid strength of these cations is similar to the conjugate base strength of the strong acids. That is, these cations have no acidic properties in water; similarly, the conjugate bases of strong acids have no basic properties (strong gives you worthless). Fill in the blanks with the correct response. The conjugate base of a weak acid is a_____base. The conjugate acid of a weak base is a_____acid. The conjugate base of a strong acid is a_____base. The conjugate acid of a strong base is a_____ acid. (Hint: Weak gives you weak and strong gives you worthless.)