Chapter 15, Problem 15.115QE

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Fraction of benzoic acid ionized in $0.010M$ and $0.0010M$ solutions have to be calculated.

Concept Introduction:

The ionization of a hypothetical weak acid $\left(\text{HA}\right)$ is given as follows:

  $\text{HA}\left(\text{aq}\right)+{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}\left(\text{l}\right)\rightleftharpoons {\text{A}}^{-}\left(\text{aq}\right)+{\text{H}}_3{\text{O}}^{+}\left(\text{aq}\right)$

The formula to calculate the fraction ionized is as follows:

  $\text{Fraction ionized}=\frac{\left[{\text{A}}^{-}\right]}{\left[\text{HA}\right]}\left(100\text{ \%}\right)$        (1)

Here,

$\left[{\text{A}}^{-}\right]$ denotes the concentration of conjugate base of the acid.

$\left[\text{HA}\right]$ denotes the total analytical concentration of acid.